SAN FRANCISCO, January 05, (THEWILL) – UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday announced that the third national lockdown would begin immediately, with new laws coming into force amid surging cases in Coronavirus infections and patient numbers. Johnson said he had been forced to act to prevent the National Health Services, NHS, becoming overwhelmed.
He said everyone in England must stay at home except for permitted reasons and all schools and colleges will close to most pupils and switch to remote learning until the middle of February
The PM said those in the top four priority groups would receive a first vaccine dose by mid-February.
Speaking from Downing Street, Johnson said the weeks ahead would be the “hardest yet”.
“It is clear that we need to do more to bring this new variant under control. That means the government is once again instructing you to stay at home”, Johnson said.
During his televised address to the nation, Johnson reimposed measures seen during the first lockdown last spring, including closures of secondary and primary schools to all except the children of key workers and vulnerable children.
Johnson however said people could still leave home “to escape domestic abuse.” People will be allowed to leave their homes for limited reasons like shopping for essentials, exercise, and medical assistance.
Outdoor sports venues will have to close. But unlike spring’s lockdown, nurseries will not be shuttered, elite sports can go ahead, and places of worship will remain open on the basis that attendees adhere to social distancing rules.
Hours before, Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced a lockdown that will begin at midnight, Tuesday, local time. Wales and Northern Ireland, the other nations of the UK are already in lockdown.
The UK is back in crisis mode as new daily COVID-19 cases soared above 50,000 cases for nearly a week, and hospitalizations exceeded April’s peak.
According to Johnson, there were 30 per cent more COVID-19 patients in hospitals in England on Monday than a week earlier.
UK Chief Medical Officers and the NHS England Medical Director have advised that the country enter the highest coronavirus alert level for the first time in the pandemic, he added. The measure is in response to hospitalizations that could overwhelm the country’s National Health Service (NHS) in the next 21 days.
“Many parts of the health systems in the four nations are already under immense pressure. There are currently very high rates of community transmission, with substantial numbers of COVID patients in hospitals and in intensive care”, UK Chief Medical Officers said in a statement on Monday.
“We are not confident that the NHS can handle a further sustained rise in cases and without further action there is a material risk of the NHS in several areas being overwhelmed over the next 21 days,” UK Chief Medical Officers said, adding that the new variant, believed to have originated in the UK, has led to rising cases “almost everywhere.”
Johnson’s announcement follows mounting calls from public health experts, teachers’ unions and lawmakers for a more stringent lockdown.
British teachers unions criticized the “chaotic reopening” of schools this week, “while the rate of infection is so high and exposing education sector workers to serious risk of ill-health and could fuel the pandemic “, the Educations unions’ joint statement said.
UK opposition leader, Keir Starmer implored Johnson to take tougher measures to tackle the surge, adding that Britain’s tiered system approach to restrictions “isn’t working.”
Ruling Conservative party lawmaker Jeremy Hunt, who was the former Health Secretary, said it was “time to act” ahead of Johnson’s speech. “We need to close schools, borders, and ban all household mixing RIGHT AWAY,” he wrote.
The UK government is pinning its hopes for a route out of this disaster through its COVID-19 vaccination programme, which began last month. But the country is long way from vaccinating the millions in the top priority groups mentioned by Johnson, including people “over the age of 70, all frontline health workers and everyone who is clinically vulnerable,”
About the Author
