Some 44 million people or three-quarters of England’s population already live under the harshest restrictions.
Nearly 56 million people in England will return to a total coronavirus lockdown, possibly until mid-February, to try to reduce spiraling infection rates, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday.
The measures, which include the closure of primary and secondary schools, will take effect on Wednesday, he said in a televised speech, after Scotland announced that similar measures would take effect from midnight Tuesday.
Some 44 million people or three-quarters of England’s population already live under the strictest restrictions, as Britain grapples with one of the worst coronavirus death rates in the world.
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But they have been unable to stop an upward trend in positive cases, which have been attributed to a new, more infectious variant.
Johnson said that as of Monday, nearly 27,000 people with Covid were in the hospital, 40% more than at the peak of the first wave of the outbreak in April last year.
Last Tuesday, more than 80,000 people tested positive in just 24 hours.
“With most of the country already under extreme measures, it is clear that we have to do more, together, to control this new variant while our vaccines are implemented,” he said.
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“In England, therefore, we must enter a national blockade.”
The new measures are similar to those of the first three-month lockdown from late March to June last year.
They include closing schools, working from home whenever possible, limits on leaving home except for exercise, essential shopping and medical supplies, and no mixing of home.
The decision to conduct annual national exams for 16- and 18-year-olds will be made after consultations between the secretary of education and the rating agencies, Johnson said.
Shortly before Johnson’s announcement, the four medical directors from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland said the country had moved to the five highest coronavirus level.
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That means the state’s National Health Service is at risk of being overwhelmed within 21 days if no action is taken.
Johnson said he hoped the restrictions could begin to be lifted after the next school holidays in mid-February, acknowledging that the next few weeks “will be the most difficult yet.”
But he said he was encouraged by the launch of two COVID-19 vaccines, including one developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca, which could see the four most vulnerable groups inoculated in the next six weeks.
“With every blow that reaches our arms, we are tilting the odds against COVID-19 and in favor of the British people,” he added.
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