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In the fourth communication to the country about the pandemic, three were made to announce what no prime minister wants to say multiple times: “I ask you again to stay home,” Boris Johnson said Monday afternoon. , when announcing the third closure at the national level. There are at least six weeks of restrictions. The remaining doubt was about the schools and even this step had to be reviewed: all educational institutions return to virtual classes until at least mid-February, with daycare centers and monitoring of minors whose parents are essential professionals as the only exceptions.
The UK had the highest daily number of new cases in the last 24 hours, with 58,784 new infections. In addition to being the largest increase since the beginning of the crisis, this Monday’s figure marks the seventh consecutive time that the daily number of cases exceeds 50,000, which has never happened.
The British Prime Minister began his communication with the country by blaming the new strain of this reversal of the limited freedoms that existed: “There is no doubt that the efforts collectively undertaken by the British in the fight against the old strain of the virus were working and they would have continued to work, but now we have this new offshoot: it is frustrating and alarming at the same time to see the speed at which this new strain is spreading. ” According to the scientists, Johnson added, this new strain is “between 50% and 70% more contagious than it used to be,” which, he continued, “means there is much, much more chance of contracting the virus and transmitting it to others”.
With the country, so far, almost everything in the so-called “level 4”, which implies more restrictions on movement and collective activities, the inhabitants of England are now subject to confinement of “level 5”, which means that All Collective activities are prohibited, even with regard to physical exercise; it is only possible to do it with a second person in the home and only once a day.
Other restrictions include the closure of sports parks, including outdoors, non-essential shops, restaurants and bars, and a ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages even at on-site food collection services as news of meetings began to appear at the door. restaurants while the takeout was being prepared. National high school exams should not be taken in person either, but Johnson has promised that children and adolescents with some form of vulnerability can continue to seek help from educators and that there will be a new effort to purchase materials that allow those most in need to study in home via the Internet.
Johnson believes that, without further action, England (the different countries that make up the United Kingdom have different rules but all have announced a return to more restrictions in recent days) will not be able to defeat this strain and that is why he asked again: “Stay in House “. Johnson did not wait that long this time to impose rules that practically prohibit driving on public roads; it certainly still remembers the first weeks that the theory of “group immunity” was adopted in the country and shortly after it was abandoned under the critical shout. of professionals who saw more people arriving at hospitals every day.
This situation, totally unknown, voracious, in which no one knew what to do or with what means to protect, has passed, but the danger to the viability of the National Health Service (SNS) is greater now than at the top of the first wave. “Our hospitals are under greater pressure than ever during the first phase of the pandemic. In England alone, the number of admitted patients increased by 33% in just one week, to almost 27,000. And that figure is 40% higher than that reached in the first peak, in April. The death toll has risen 20% in the last week and “will unfortunately go up,” Johnson said, lining up the grim numbers, perhaps to show the situation is at its limit.
Johnson knows that the patience of many of his closest supporters – and financiers – is also on the edge, those who live off sales and suffer immensely from consumption limitations. The British Treasury increased the redundancy schemes until April, in which 80% of the value of the salaries of the workers in the companies that request this aid is insured by the State, a figure that in November had already reached 43 billion pounds (approximately € 48 billion).
When Johnson imposed the prenatal lockdown on December 2, the rebellion was not dramatic among his fellow party members, but the warnings were more than enough for the prime minister to understand that opposition to these restrictions is real and may even be dangerous. Charles Walker, vice chairman of the 1922 committee, a major advisory and executive body of the Conservative Party, said, quoted by the Financial Times, before voting against this earlier shutdown: “As we move toward an authoritarian and coercive state, the The only legal mechanism I have left is to vote against the legislation ”.
Graham Brady, chair of the same committee, said that some people would see the confinement as “a form of evil”, supporting his colleague in the use of the adjective “totalitarian.”
The measures will be respected as of Monday night, but they will only have to be approved by the House of Commons on Wednesday. There, as we have seen, some opposition to the Prime Minister is expected, a bit from all sides.
In addition to conservatives concerned about the economy and restrictions on individual liberty, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey is also disappointed, but for the opposite reasons: “This is the public health policy that the prime minister should have announced before Christmas. , but again, Boris Johnson avoided the difficult decisions, did not listen to the experts and acted too late, “he was quoted by The Guardian. The issue of schools is causing the most adverse reactions. On Sunday, Johnson had said that the Schools are safe places and now all but those who receive the first ages will close.
Neil Leitch, representative of an alliance of educators in kindergartens and other places that receive children in the first years of life, told The Guardian that, in the sector, the concern to continue working at a time with so many infections is great: “It is Unacceptable that once again, in yet another communication to the country, the Government has not offered any scientific data that explains to us how those who work in daycare centers will be able to keep themselves and their families free from danger when the message is that the situation is too serious for anyone to work in a normal school ”.
