[ad_1]
Almost the entire population of England will be under the most severe coronavirus restrictions from Thursday after Boris Johnson said a new variant of the virus was on the rise.
The new restrictions were announced hours after British regulators approved the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is cheaper and easier to distribute than the Pfizer vaccine that was the first to be implemented.
Johnson told a Downing Street news conference that it was “very frustrating” to be in a position where the new strain of the virus was taking over while the new vaccine brought so much hope.
“We have to face the fact that we have two great things happening at the same time in our fight against Covid: one works for us and the other works against us.
“On the positive side, we have two valid vaccines, and we are racing to get them out, and on the bad side, there is a new strain of the virus that is spreading much faster and increasing across the country.”
Unlike the Pfizer vaccine, the AstraZeneca product does not need to be kept at extremely low temperatures and thawed before use.
Both approved vaccines require two doses a few weeks apart, but UK authorities have revised their vaccination plan to prioritize giving the first dose to as many people as possible and delay the second dose until three months later.
“The good news is that people get protection after the first dose. This means we can accelerate the rate at which we can vaccinate people for the first 12 weeks before coming back to administer the second doses for that longer-term protection, ”Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the House of Commons. .
Britain ordered tens of millions of the new vaccine, but Hancock admitted that just over half a million would be available from next Monday.
New variant
Britain reported another 50,023 new coronavirus cases and 981 more deaths on Wednesday, more than double the death toll from the previous day.
Government scientific advisers said the new variant of the virus was especially prevalent in London and south-east England, but was spreading across the country.
The new measures mean that 44 million people, almost 80 per cent of England’s population, will be under Level 4 restrictions.
The government has also delayed the reopening of schools in some parts of the country, telling tertiary universities that students should not return until mid-January at the earliest.
“At this critical moment, with the prospect of freedom within our grasp, we have to redouble our efforts to contain the virus. No one regrets these measures more bitterly than I do, but we must take strong action now, ”Johnson said.
“We must face reality: the rate of spread of this new variant forces us to take even tougher measures in some areas, and that affects schools.”
[ad_2]