Tony Blair Discusses His Strategy for Exiting Lockdown

TONY BLAIR, FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Right. So, I mean, we are ramping up the testing capability but we got to do, obviously, much more and you got to have both tests in place. You got to have the test, the so-called PCR test that enables you to see whether someone has the disease. But then, there’s the development of the antibody test which will allow you to see whether someone has had it. And so — because the problem with coronavirus is that it only ever affects a small number of the population at any one time. So, only a small number of people need to be in quarantine. But because we don’t know who has it, for sure, or who has had it, then you have to lockdown the entire country. So, testing and then tracking and tracing is absolutely essential. Because the one thing you know is, as you open back up again, you know, some activities are obviously much less risky than others, but as you open up back up again, you’re bound do get outbreaks and you have got to be in a position where you can immediately trace those and track them. And then take the measures to make sure that people who are at risk to others are quarantined. Now, all of that is whilst we wait for a vaccine which is obviously a longer-term prospect or a therapeutic which could happen more swiftly and obviously, also be a game changer because it reduces the severity of the disease. But my point — really the point I’m trying to make today is, each of these areas has got to be go into real detail, the plans to be detailed plan telling you the level — the levels of opening up that you are going to go through, precisely what they are, the metrics that trigger each of them, the measures of containment that are in place and then communicate that with people so that they understand why you’re taking the decisions you are. But, you know, if we don’t start this process of opening up, then, you know, that — as every week passes, the economic damage mounts. And one of the things that I think that will be very clear going forward is that absent the vaccine or the therapeutic that makes a real difference, we’re going to have to be building the capacity now and here for things like masks and protective equipment because I think that will be part of — you know, I know the government’s dubious about the question of masks and all. I’ve got no doubt at all in the end we will be saying to people, if you’re going on public transport, you know, wearing a mask is what you should do. I think people find it much easier and have much more confidence in using public transport if that’s the case. So, there’s a whole range of things that need to be done and actions that need to be taken now and making sure, obviously, that you’re building the capability of doing the PCR and the antibody test because I think — and I thought this from the very beginning. Your only way out of this is to do testing on such a scale that you have a high degree of confidence at any one time that whatever measures you’re taking you understand exactly what their implications are. And if there’s anybody who gets infected with the disease, you can immediately trace them and track them.