LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was mulling a second national lockdown on Monday, as an accelerating outbreak of coronavirus threatened to destroy any buds of economic recovery and send millions back into isolation.
The UK already has the highest official death toll from Covid-19 in Europe, and the fifth highest in the world, while it is borrowing record amounts in an attempt to pump emergency money through the damaged economy.
But new Covid-19 cases are increasing by at least 6,000 a day in Britain, based on week-long data, hospital admissions are doubling every eight days and the testing system is weakening.
“The trend in the UK is going in the wrong direction and we are at a critical point in the pandemic,” Chris Whitty, the government’s medical director, said in a briefing at 1000 GMT on Monday.
Johnson is due to speak Tuesday.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the restrictions would be different than last time: The government wants to crack down on socialization, but schools and many workplaces will remain open.
“If we have to take action, it will be different from last time and we have learned a lot about how to fight the virus,” he told ITV.
“Schools are not where much of the transmission happens, it’s more about people socializing,” he said.
When asked about Christmas and whether people could hug their relatives, he said he wanted it to be as normal as possible.
“If this gets out of hand now, we will have to take more severe action in the future,” Hancock said.
The official death toll in the UK is 41,777.
The UK already has the highest official death toll from Covid-19 in Europe, and the fifth highest in the world, while it is borrowing record amounts in an attempt to pump emergency money through the damaged economy.
But new Covid-19 cases are increasing by at least 6,000 a day in Britain, based on week-long data, hospital admissions are doubling every eight days and the testing system is weakening.
“The trend in the UK is going in the wrong direction and we are at a critical point in the pandemic,” Chris Whitty, the government’s medical director, said in a briefing at 1000 GMT on Monday.
Johnson is due to speak Tuesday.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the restrictions would be different than last time: The government wants to crack down on socialization, but schools and many workplaces will remain open.
“If we have to take action, it will be different from last time and we have learned a lot about how to fight the virus,” he told ITV.
“Schools are not where much of the transmission happens, it’s more about people socializing,” he said.
When asked about Christmas and whether people could hug their relatives, he said he wanted it to be as normal as possible.
“If this gets out of hand now, we will have to take more severe action in the future,” Hancock said.
The official death toll in the UK is 41,777.
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