British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday ordered a new national lockdown on England to try to stem the rise in COVID-19 cases that threatens to overwhelm parts of the healthcare system before a vaccine program reaches critical mass. .
Johnson said a new, more contagious variant of the coronavirus was spreading at high speed and urgent action was needed to stop it.
“As I speak to you tonight, our hospitals are under more pressure from COVID than at any time since the beginning of the pandemic,” Johnson said in a televised address to the country as he abandoned his regional focus on fighting the pandemic.
“With most of the country already under extreme measures, it is clear that we have to do more together to control this new variant.
“Therefore, we must enter a national blockade, which is tough enough to contain this variant. That means the government is ordering you once again to stay home. “
Johnson said the measures would include school closings starting Tuesday and rules requiring most people to stay home, in addition to essential purchases, exercise and other limited exceptions.
He said that if the vaccination program timeline went according to plan and the number of cases and deaths responded to the lockdown measures as expected, it should be possible to start exiting the lockdown in mid-February.
However, he urged caution with the timing.
LAUNCH OF NEW VACCINE
As Britain grapples with the world’s sixth-highest death toll and the cases hit a new record, the country’s medical directors said the spread of COVID-19 risks overwhelming parts of the healthcare system in 21 days.
The increase in cases has been driven by the new variant of COVID-19, officials say, and while they acknowledge that the pandemic is spreading faster than expected, they say there is also light at the end of the tunnel: vaccines.
The Johnson administration previously touted a scientific “triumph” when Britain became the first country in the world to begin vaccinating its population with the COVID-19 vaccine from the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca.
Dialysis patient Brian Pinker received the first vaccine outside of a trial Monday.
“I am very happy to receive the COVID vaccine today and really proud that it was invented in Oxford,” said the 82-year-old retired maintenance manager, just a few hundred meters from where the vaccine was developed.
But even with the implementation of vaccines, the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths continues to rise.
More than 75,000 people in the UK have died from COVID-19 within 28 days of testing positive from the start of the pandemic. A record 58,784 new coronavirus cases were reported on Monday.
A few hours before Johnson, Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon imposed the tightest blockade on Scotland since last spring.
Wales’ decentralized administration said all schools and universities should move to online learning until January 18.
.
