UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announces hard shutdown of Covid-19

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced a new national lockdown on England until at least mid-February to combat a new variant of the rapidly spreading coronavirus, even as Britain increased its vaccination program by becoming the first nation to start using the developed vaccine. by the University of Oxford and the pharmaceutical AstraZeneca.

Johnson said people should stay home again, as they were ordered to do so in the first wave of the pandemic in March, this time because the new variant of the virus was spreading in a “frustrating and alarming” way.

“As I speak to you tonight, our hospitals are under more pressure from Covid than at any time since the start of the pandemic,” he said.

Under the new rules, which will take effect as soon as possible, primary and secondary schools and universities will be closed for face-to-face learning, except for the children of key workers. College students won’t be back until at least mid-February.

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All non-essential stores and personal care services like hair salons will be closed, and restaurants can only operate takeout services.

As of Monday, there were 26,626 Covid-19 patients in hospitals in England, an increase of more than 30 percent from a week ago. That’s 40 percent above the peak of the first wave in the spring.

The UK has seen an alarming rise in coronavirus cases in recent weeks as public health officials struggle to control the spread of a new variant of Covid-19 that is more contagious than previous variants. Authorities have recorded more than 50,000 new infections a day since they first passed that milestone on December 29. On Monday, they reported 407 virus-related deaths to bring the total confirmed deaths to 75,431, one of the worst in Europe.

UK Chief Medical Officers warned that without further action, “there is a material risk that the National Health Service in various areas will be overwhelmed for the next 21 days.”

Hours earlier, Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon also imposed a blockade on her nation until the end of January.

Starting Tuesday, people in Scotland will be required to stay home, except for essential reasons, to help ease pressure on hospitals and intensive care units, Sturgeon said. Under the new rules, people can go outside to exercise, but they can only meet one person from another household. The schools will remain closed until February, except for the children of key workers and social care workers.

“I am more concerned about the situation we are facing now than at any time since March last year,” Sturgeon said in Edinburgh.

Scotland, which controls its own health policy under the UK’s decentralized system of government, has often imposed stricter coronavirus restrictions than England’s.

The announcements come on the day that UK health authorities began gunning the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine across the country, fueling hopes that life may start to return to normal in the spring.

Britain has secured the rights to 100 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which is cheaper and easier to use than some of its rivals. In particular, it does not require the super cold storage necessary for Pfizer vaccine.

The new vaccine will be administered in a small number of hospitals during the first days so authorities can be on the lookout for any adverse reactions. But the NHS said hundreds of new vaccination sites, including local medical offices, will open later this week, joining the more than 700 vaccination sites already in operation.

A “massive acceleration operation” is now underway on the vaccination program, Johnson said.

But some aspects of Britain’s vaccination plan have sparked controversy.

Both vaccines require two injections, and Pfizer recommended that the second dose be given within 21 days of the first. But the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization said authorities should give the first dose of the vaccine to as many people as possible, rather than reserving injections to ensure that others get two doses. You have extended the time between doses from 21 days to 12 weeks.

While two doses are required to fully protect against Covid-19, both vaccines provide high levels of protection after the first dose, the committee said. Making the first dose the priority “will maximize the benefits of the vaccination program in the short term,” he said.

Stephen Evans, professor of pharmacoepidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said lawmakers are forced to balance the potential risks of this change with the benefits amid a deadly pandemic.

“We have a crisis situation in the UK with a new variant that is spreading rapidly and, as has become clear to everyone during 2020, delays cost lives,” Evans said. “When resources for doses and people to vaccinate are limited, then vaccinating more people with potentially less efficacy is demonstrably better than more comprehensive efficacy by just half.”

In England alone, 24,957 people were in hospitals with COVID-19 on Sunday. While the figures for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have not been updated in recent days, that’s higher than the peak across the UK during the first wave of the pandemic.

The government closed non-essential stores in London and parts of south-eastern England before Christmas to try to contain the new variant, but health officials say stricter measures are now needed.

Johnson said there are “tough, tough” weeks to come in the fight against Covid-19.

While schools in London are already closed due to high infection rates in the capital, students in many parts of the country were returning to face-to-face classes on the Monday after Christmas holidays. However, unions representing teachers have called for schools across England to be closed for at least two weeks, and for classes to be switched to distance learning.

But with vaccination there is hope. Brian Pinker, an 82-year-old dialysis patient, received his first injection of Oxford-AstraZeneca at 7:30 am at Oxford University Hospital.

“Today’s nurses, doctors, and staff have been brilliant, and I am now looking forward to celebrating my 48th wedding anniversary with my wife, Shirley, later this year,” Pinker said in a statement released by the National Health Service. Health.