We are so nearly out of our captivity, we can see the sunlit upland pastures ahead... but if we try to jump the fence now, we will tangle ourselves in the last barbed wire, writes PRIME MINISTER BORIS JOHNSON

We can't blow it now. We can’t just throw it all away – not when freedom is in sight. We have worked too hard, lost too many, sacrificed too much, just to see our efforts incinerated in another volcanic eruption of the virus.

Once again, the British people have come together to bring Covid under control. Once again, our collective efforts have paid off – and as I write the R rate is once again below one.

Across the country, the disease is no longer doubling in prevalence. It is halving. We did it before, in the spring, and now we have done it again.  

We have worked too hard, lost too many, sacrificed too much, just to see our efforts incinerated in another volcanic eruption of the virus, writes Boris Johnson

But this time it is different. This time we know in our hearts that we are winning, and that we will inevitably win, because the armies of science are coming to our aid with all the morale-boosting, bugle-blasting excitement of Wellington’s Prussian allies coming through the woods on the afternoon of Waterloo.

In months, or even weeks, we will have a viable vaccine against coronavirus – giving elderly and vulnerable people the durable protection they need. And we are not just backing one vaccine, but seven.

We have secured 40 million doses of the highly promising Pfizer-Biontech treatment, with millions possibly available by the end of this year. We have obtained 100 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine that is now going for approval by the regulators at MHRA. And as of yesterday, the Government has bought a total of 7 million doses of the Moderna vaccine, which has proved 95 per cent effective in clinical trials.

We have secured 40 million doses of the highly promising Pfizer-Biontech treatment, with millions possibly available by the end of this year, writes Boris Johnson 

All told, Kate Bingham and her Vaccines Taskforce have secured early access to more than 350 million doses of vaccine – more than enough to inoculate everyone in the UK, as well as our Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories.

If and when we can begin delivering those shots in the national arm – beginning with the most vulnerable groups – we will know we have won. And even before we roll out the vaccine, we are equipping ourselves with new and encouraging methods of fighting Covid.

The people of Liverpool have come together to do mass community testing, with 240,000 getting tested – including with new rapid turnaround tests. There is no doubt about it. Thanks in part to strict adherence to the rules, and thanks also to community testing, the rate of infection in Liverpool is now substantially lower than in other comparable cities.

Liverpool is now in tier 2 and not tier 3 – and so we want to use this community testing in other tier 3 areas to achieve the same effect and to identify and isolate the one in three hidden carriers who have the disease but suffer no symptoms.

The people of Liverpool have come together to do mass community testing, with 240,000 getting tested – including with new rapid turnaround tests, writes Boris Johnson. Pictured: soldiers prepare to swab Liverpudlians at a testing centre in Liverpool on November 6

Soldiers pictured preparing to swab Liverpool residents for coronavirus at Croxteth Sports Centre on November 7

Thanks in part to strict adherence to the rules, and thanks also to community testing, the rate of infection in Liverpool is now substantially lower than in other comparable cities, writes Boris Johnson. Pictured: Two people are pictured being swabbed at St John's Hall on November 7

We have procured vast supplies of these pregnancy-style tests – hundreds of millions of them by January. We are working with local leaders across tier 3 to do the same mass testing exercises – to squeeze the disease and kick Covid out.

We have seen it work in Slovakia and in Liverpool, and there is no reason why it should not work everywhere.

Indeed, there is every reason to hope that we can use mass testing to help us open all kinds of sectors that have been under the greatest pressure – sports, entertainment, hospitality, aviation, business events – you name it. All this is possible. We can do it and we will do it. But we MUST be realistic.

We know that mass testing can work, but we must accept that as a medical technique it is still in its infancy. To work in towns and cities, let alone regions, it relies on high levels of public buy-in and community spirit.

As for the vaccines, I now have no doubt that they will come, and possibly very soon. But they are not yet here. They are passing all kinds of tests, but none of them has yet been completely approved as fit to be injected in the arms of our parents and grandparents. Even if that great moment is just days away – as it could be – there are still long weeks and months ahead before we can be completely confident that we can vaccinate enough people in the country, and thereby remove enough targets for the virus, in order to beat the disease.

And as of yesterday, the Government has bought a total of 7 million doses of the Moderna vaccine, which has proved 95 per cent effective in clinical trials, writes Boris Johnson (file photo)

Those will be the coldest and darkest months of the year, the period in which the NHS is always most vulnerable.

And the brutal truth is that we are entering that winter period with rates of Covid infection still high throughout the country – perhaps one person in 85 – far higher than in September.

We have almost as many Covid patients in our hospitals as we had in the April peak; we have deaths running, alas, at several hundred per day; and with the real prospect of the NHS being unable to cope, we simply cannot let our foot off the throat of the beast. On Wednesday we can and must come out of lockdown, and we will. But we cannot afford to let things rip.

To all those who are in a tier higher than they believe they deserve, and especially to our wonderful hospitality sector, I not only sympathise. I grieve for what we have to do.

We will review the position, and all the data, on December 16, and we will continue to support lives and livelihoods as the Government has done throughout the pandemic, to ensure that businesses have the chance to bounce back ever more strongly next year.

And the brutal truth is that we are entering that winter period with rates of Covid infection still high throughout the country – perhaps one person in 85 – far higher than in September, writes Boris Johnson

It is worth remembering that the world of this Wednesday is not a lockdown, even in tier 3. You will be able to leave your home for any reason. You can do your Christmas shopping, indeed any type of shopping; visit the gym; have a haircut; play organised sports; take part in communal worship; and meet friends in outside public places subject to the rule of six.

Over the coming weeks, I am convinced we will be able to use these two new scientific tools – mass testing and vaccines – to drive Covid out of our hospitals and schools and homes and out of our lives.

With every substantial reduction in infection, across the country, we will de-escalate restrictions and allow whole areas to come down the tiers. We believe that Easter will mark a real end point and a real chance to return to something like life as normal.

But it is crucial to understand that with the help of these scientific advances we hope to make progress – and to de-escalate – BEFORE Easter.

We are so nearly out of our captivity. We can see the sunlit upland pastures ahead. But if we try to jump the fence now, we will simply tangle ourselves in the last barbed wire, with disastrous consequences for the NHS.

So let’s do the job properly. Let’s work together, and with tiering, testing and vaccines let’s make 2021 the year we kick Covid out, take back control of our lives and reclaim all the things we love.