UK PM Announces Lock-down In England

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, has announced that nearly 56 million people in England will return to a full coronavirus lock-down, probably until mid-February, to try to curb spiraling infection rates.

In a televised address, he said the measures, which would include the closure of primary and secondary schools, will come into effect on Wednesday.

Some 44 million people of the population of England are already living under the toughest restrictions, as Britain deals with one of the worst mortality rates from coronavirus in the world.

But they have failed to stop an upward trend in positive cases, which have been blamed on a more infectious new variant.

According to Johnson, as at Monday, almost 27,000 people with Covid were in the hospital; 40 percent more than at the peak of first wave of the outbreak on April last year.

Last Tuesday, more than 80,000 people tested positive in just 24 hours.

He said that; ”with most of the country already under extreme measures, it is clear that we need to do more, together, to bring this new variant under control while our vaccines are rolled out. In England, we must therefore go into a national lock-down”.

The new measures are quite similar to those during the first, three-month lock-down from late March to June 2020.

The measures include the closure of schools, working from home wherever possible, limits on leaving home, except for exercise, essential shopping and for medical supplies, and no household mixing.

Before Johnson’s announcement, the four chief medical officers of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland said the country had moved to the highest coronavirus level five.

Johnson said that the weeks ahead will be the hardest yet, and he was encouraged by the vaccines to be released soon.

He concluded by saying; ”with every jab that goes into our arms, we are tilting the odds against Covid and in favor of the British people”.