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Britain has been the worst-hit country in Europe by the pandemic, with the government recording nearly 42,000 deaths from COVID-19. The number of new cases is reaching levels not seen since April.
Women wear face masks as they bask in the sun at Roundhay Park in Leeds, northern England, on May 2, 2020, during the national lockdown to curb the new COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Image: AFP
LONDON – Britain’s government warned on Friday that it could re-impose a national lockdown on England to counter the coronavirus pandemic, noting that hospitalization rates are doubling every eight days.
“We want to avoid a national lockdown, but we are prepared to do so if necessary,” Health Secretary Matt Hancock told BBC television.
“We are prepared to do whatever it takes to both protect lives and protect livelihoods,” he said, warning of more local measures to come after restrictions were imposed on swaths of northeast England from Friday.
Britain has been the worst-hit country in Europe by the pandemic, with the government recording nearly 42,000 deaths from COVID-19. The number of new cases is reaching levels not seen since April.
Hancock said that “we have also sadly seen the number of people hospitalized for coronavirus double every eight days, so we must take action.”
Stronger regulations on socialization came into effect in Northumberland, North and South Tyneside, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Gateshead and County Durham, affecting more than two million people.
Government scientists have reportedly proposed a blanket lockdown that will take effect in England for two weeks in October, to coincide with English schools’ mid-term holidays.
The government has faced harsh criticism this week for the failure to achieve the “global” trace-and-test system that it promised would be in place during the summer months.
Hancock defended his embattled testing program, saying the government was “doing everything possible for the cavalry that is on the horizon for the vaccine and mass testing.”
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