Boris is like that old King ignoring the tide.
Those figures you quotes, Gromit: how much different do you think they would have been had we all continued to wear flimsy face masks? Clue: the Scots have continued to do so and their figures are worse than England's. As I said upthread, everybody will be exposed to SARS-CoV-2 sooner or later and wearing a flimsy face mask will not prevent that.
Just to add to youngmaf's remarks about the "Old King": I trust you are referring to King Cnut (aka Canute):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cnut#The_story_of_Cnut_and_the_waves
After he had been drenched by the incoming tide, the King said this:
"Let all the world know that the power of kings is empty and worthless, and there is no king worthy of the name save Him by whose will heaven, earth and the sea obey eternal laws."
The King knew he could not control the tide; only his courtiers believed he could. Similarly the Prime Minister knows he cannot control the spread of the virus; only people roaming around wearing flimsy face coverings believe he can.