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Boris Johnson has announced a new national lockdown for England, with the instruction to “stay home”, as they did during the first lockdown last March.
the Prime Minister revealed the action in an eight-minute television address Monday night, after being told that COVID-19 Cases are increasing rapidly in all parts of the country due to the new coronavirus variant.
The public is being asked to follow the new rules, which have now superseded England’s tier system, immediately.
The new lockdown in England, the third time a nationwide lockout has been introduced, is expected to last until mid-February.
Mr. Johnson expressed hope that, at this time, nearly 14 million people have been offered the first dose of a vaccine.
England is entering a third national lockdown
From now on, people across the country must stay home, with five exceptions:
• to work, if people cannot work from home, such as those in the construction industry or key workers
• to buy basic necessities like food or medicine
• exercise once a day at a local location. This may include with someone other than someone’s home or bubble of support / child care
• to provide care or help to vulnerable people
• to attend medical appointments, receive medical care or a coronavirus test, or to flee the threat of harm or violence.
All elementary schools, high schools, and universities will go online learning starting Tuesday.
Schools will remain closed to all students, except for the children of key workers or those who are vulnerable, until the February semester.
However, nurseries can stay open while bubbles of care and support will stay in place.
With his announcement of the school closings a day after he urged parents to send their children back to the classroom, Johnson acknowledged the “annoyance and anguish” of students and parents.
But he defended not acting sooner, as some schools had now reopened after their Christmas break for just one day, saying that ministers had “been doing everything possible to keep schools open” up to this point.
Johnson said the government will work with the testing regulator to establish “alternative arrangements,” as he admitted that the new lockdown means that “it is not possible or fair for all tests to take place this summer as usual.”
Students will not be able to return to colleges and are expected to study from their current residence, when possible, until mid-February.
Pubs, restaurants and cafes will be able to continue with take out or click and collect services, but the sale of alcoholic beverages to go will no longer be allowed.
Essential shops, garden centers and places of worship may remain open, but zoos and sports facilities, including golf courses, swimming pools, and tennis courts, must close.
Elite sports, such as Premier League football, will continue, as will physical education lessons for children still in school.
Shielding will resume for those deemed clinically vulnerable, and those groups are urged to stay home as much as possible and not go to work even if they cannot work from home.
They should only go outside to exercise or to attend medical appointments.
Schools will be closed for most students until the February semester.
Johnson said the new variant of the coronavirus, which was considered between 50% and 70% more transmissible, was spreading at a “frustrating and alarming” rate.
The prime minister warned that this means that “there is much more chance of contracting the virus and transmitting it.”
“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 added.
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Full: Johnson’s speech to the nation
As of Monday, there were 26,626 COVID patients in the England hospital, an increase of more than 30% in a week and now more than 40% more than the peak of the first wave of coronavirus infections last April.
There has also been a close to 25% increase in the number of deaths in the last seven days, compared to the previous week.
But despite the growing numbers, the prime minister hailed COVID vaccines as “a huge difference” compared to England’s first lockdown last spring.
He outlined plans Offer a first dose of vaccine to all nursing home residents, age 70 and older, all frontline health and social care workers, and all who are extremely vulnerable by the middle of next month.
“If we can vaccinate all those groups, we will have eliminated a large number of people from the path of the virus,” he said.
“And of course that will eventually allow us to lift many of the restrictions that we have endured for so long.”
Vaccine Deployment Minister Nadhim Zahawi later tweeted that the government’s goal was to administer 13.9 million doses by mid-February.
In a call for national unity, Johnson said that people “now more than ever, must work together.”
“The next few weeks will be the toughest yet, but I really think we are entering the last phase of the fight,” he added.
The Prime Minister’s announcement came after the UK COVID alert level raised from level 4 to level 5, as high as possible, for the first time.
In a stark warning, UK medical directors said there was a “material risk of the NHS in various areas being overwhelmed for the next 21 days” without further action.
Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon had previously announced a The national blockade would be introduced in Scotland. since midnight tonight.
And the government of Wales announced that all schools and universities will move to online learning until January 18.
Northern Ireland Prime Minister Arlene Foster, who imposed a six-week lockdown on Northern Ireland since Boxing Day, said Monday night that the “stay home” instruction would now become law, with a update on schools on Tuesday.
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Starmer admits a new lockdown
The United Kingdom registered 58,784 new cases of coronavirus on Monday – the highest daily total since the start of the pandemic.
It is the seventh consecutive day that there have been more than 50,000 daily cases, while government figures also show that there have been 407 more deaths in the last 24 hours.
The new lockdown restrictions will become law early Wednesday morning, although the public is urged to abide by them from now on.
As they did in the spring of last year, the police will have powers to enforce the new lockdown with fines and dispersal orders.
The House of Commons will be pulled out of its current recess to sit on Wednesday, so MPs can hear a statement from Johnson and vote on the new lockdown restrictions.
Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer said his party would support the “necessary” blockade.
“Regardless of the disputes or challenges you have with the government, with the prime minister, in a sense tonight what is really important is to say that we support these measures,” he told Sky News.
“I think we all have a duty to do everything we can to make them work.”
Commons spokesman Sir Lindsay Hoyle urged MPs to stay away from Westminster “unless absolutely necessary” and to participate virtually in Wednesday’s debate.
A new poll published by YouGov on Monday suggested that 79% of Britons support another lockdown for the UK, compared to 16% who are against a new national lockdown.
