Last checked at 
* England's month-long lockdown could be extended, Gove says
* Health service would be overwhelmed without action now -
Gove
* Details of financial support to be announced in coming
days
* Labour's Starmer says UK spurned chance to lockdown
earlier
(Adds details from Gove, scientific adviser, economic context)
By Andy Bruce
LONDON, Nov 1 (Reuters) - The one-month lockdown for England
announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson this weekend could be
extended as Britain struggles to contain a second wave of the
COVID-19 pandemic, a senior cabinet member said on Sunday.
After resisting the prospect of a new national lockdown for
most of last month, Johnson announced on Saturday that new
restrictions across England would kick in after midnight on
Thursday morning and last until Dec. 2.
The United Kingdom, which has the biggest official death
toll in Europe from COVID-19, is grappling with more than 20,000
new coronavirus cases a day and scientists have warned a
worst-case scenario of 80,000 dead this winter could be
exceeded.
Asked if a lockdown could be extended beyond early December,
senior cabinet minister Michael Gove told Sky News: "Yes."
So far, Britain has reported 46,555 COVID-19 deaths -
defined as those dying within 28 days of a positive test. A
broader measure of those with COVID-19 on their death
certificates puts the toll at 58,925.
"We can definitively say that unless we take action now, the
(health service) is going to be overwhelmed in ways that none of
us could countenance," Gove said.
The new lockdown announcement came 10 days after Johnson
told parliament it would "make no sense at all" to "turn the
lights out with a full national lockdown".
Critics have accused him of dithering at the expense of both
lives and the economy.
Opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer said the
government had missed a golden chance to lock down England more
effectively when schools were on half-term break last month.
"Well that's gone now. That is the price of the government's
incompetence," Starmer told the BBC.
The other constituents of the United Kingdom - Scotland,
Wales and Northern Ireland - have their own policies and enacted
tougher COVID-19 health restrictions last month.
EXTRA FINANCIAL SUPPORT
Government scientific adviser Jeremy Farrar said on Sunday
the lockdown would need to be extended beyond early December in
absence of evidence of a shrinking pandemic.
"Much better to do that than remove these restrictions and
then have to reimpose even more draconian restrictions around
Christmas or soon into the new year," he told the BBC.
Farrar said he had high hopes that vaccines would make a big
difference to the pandemic next year, even if they might not be
perfect.
British drugmaker AstraZeneca said on Sunday
Britain's health regulator had started an accelerated review of
its potential coronavirus vaccine.
Gove said the government would publish more information in
the coming days about extra financial support for businesses and
households, including the month-long extension to the furlough
scheme that had been scheduled to close on Saturday.
The new measures are likely to add substantially to the
roughly 200 billion pounds of emergency spending already
committed by finance minister Rishi Sunak to keep the world's
sixth-biggest economy afloat.
It is on course to contract 10% this year, which would be
its worst performance since the early 1700s, according to the
latest Reuters poll of economists conducted before the latest
lockdown announcement.
The survey showed the Bank of England is likely to announce
a 100 billion-pound expansion of its bond buying stimulus on
Thursday.
(Reporting by Andy Bruce; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Raissa
Kasolowsky)
