Primeminister orders new virus lockdown for U.K.
Prime Minister LONDON —
Boris Johnson announced on Monday a new national lockdown for England until at leastmid-Februaryto combat a fast-spreading newvariant of the coronavirus, even as Britain ramped up its vaccination programby becoming the fifirst nation to start using the shot developed by Oxford University and drugmaker AstraZeneca.
Johnson said peoplemust stay at home again, as they were ordered to do so in the fifirst wave of the pandemic inMarch, this time because the new virus variant was spreading in a “frustrating and alarming” way.
“As I speak to you tonight, ourhospitals areundermore pressure from COVID than at any time since the start of the pandemic,” he said.
Under the new rules, which are set to come into effffffffffffect as soonaspossible, primary and secondary schools and colleges will be closed for face to face learning except for the children of key workers. University studentswill not be returninguntil at least mid-February.
Allnonessential shops and personal care services like hairdressers will be closed, and restaurants can only operate takeout services.
As ofMonday, there were 26,626 C OVID patients in hospitals in England, an increase of more than 30% from a week ago. That is 40% above the highest level of the fifirst wave in the spring.
The U.K. has seen an alarming surge in coronavirus cases inrecentweeks as public health offifficials struggle to control the spread of a newvariant ofCOVID-19 that ismore contagious than previous variants. Authorities have recorded more than 50,000 newinfections a day since passing that milestone for the fifirst time on Dec. 29. On Monday, they reported 407 virus-related deaths to push the confifirmed death toll total to 75,431, one of the worst in Europe.
The U.K.’s chief medical off iffi ce rs warned that without further action, “there is a material risk of the National Health Service in several areas being overwhelmed over the next 21 days.”
Hours earlier, Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon also imposed a lockdown in her nation until the end of January.
Beginning today, people in Scotland will be required to stay at home except for essential reasons, to help ease the pressure on hospitals and intensive care units, Sturgeon said. Under the new rules, people can go out for exercise but can onlymeet one person from another household. Schools will remain closed until February, except for children of key workers and those in social care.
“I am more concerned about the situation we face nowthan I have been at any time sinceMarch last year,” Sturgeon said in Edinburgh.
Scotland, which controls its own health policy under the U.K.’s systemof devolved government, has often imposed stricter coronavirus restrictions than those in England.
The announcements came on the dayU.K. health authorities beganputting the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine into arms around the country, fueling hopes that life may begin returning to normal by the spring.
The government closed non- essential shops across London and parts of southeast England before Christmas to try to containthe new variant, but health offifficials say tougher measures are now needed.
Johnson said there were “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 returningtoin-person classes Monday after the Christmas holidays. Unions representing teachers, however, have called for schools throughoutEngland to remain closed for at least two weeks, with classes shifted to remote learning.