LONDON, Jan 6 (NNN-XINHUA) – Millions of Britons woke up yesterday, to face new strict lockdown measures, requiring them to stay indoors as COVID-19 infections continue to spiral upwards.
Announcing the lockdown, the third of its kind since the pandemic began in the country, British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, told the nation that new tough measures were needed, to control the virus, protect the National Health Service (NHS) and save lives.
He said, a drastic jump in cases is attributed to a new variant of virus, which is said to be about 70 percent more transmissible.
With no specific end-date for tougher restrictions, controls across England may last up to several months. The coming weeks will be the hardest yet, since the virus struck, Johnson warned.
The gloomy start to the new year also saw restriction imposed across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
British ministers are considering introducing a requirement for international arrivals to have a COVID test, before travelling to Britain, in a bid to tackle the rising tide of infections, a newspaper reported.
Medical officers across all regions of Britain advised politicians that, the COVID-19 threat level should move from Tier Four to Tier Five, indicating that, if action is not taken, the NHS may be soon overwhelmed.
Johnson confirmed that hospitals are now under more pressure than at any other point of the pandemic.
Lawmakers are being recalled to the House of Commons, lower house of the British Parliament, for a special sitting today, to give retrospective approval to the new controls in England.
British Cabinet Office Minister, Michael Gove indicated, the new lockdown is likely to remain in place into Mar.
“I think it is right to say, as we enter Mar, we should be able to lift some of these restrictions,” Gove said.
Professor Andrew Hayward, from the University College London (UCL) said, while the new lockdown would clearly save thousands of lives, it was not clear the restrictions would be sufficient to stop its spread. “We need to learn from the last lockdown and particularly some of the things we saw,” he said.
People are only allowed to go to work, if it’s impossible to work from home, such as construction workers. They are allowed to go out to shop for necessities, including food and medicines, and to exercise.
Meanwhile, all schools and colleges are closed (except for vulnerable children and those of key workers), and switch to remote learning until the middle of Feb.
Scottish First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, announced, Scotland would enter a new lockdown from midnight Monday, as well as, a shutdown of schools until Feb 1.
Alongside the gloomy message, Johnson offered a message of hope that the virus will be defeated, as the country continues to roll out the vaccines.
Yesterday, British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak announced a support package worth 4.6 billion pounds (about 6.25 billion U.S. dollars), to help support businesses impacted by the new lockdown.
Meanwhile, Keir Starmer, leader of the main opposition Labour Party, criticised Johnson’s handling of the pandemic, but said, his party would today, back the new measures in the House of Commons.
“It’s going to be a struggle and we need to make this work,” said Starmer in a television interview.
Tony Danker, director-general of the Confederation of British Industry, said, “Its absolutely essential we put health of our citizens first, and businesses will continue to step up in the national interest to support the NHS, employees and customers in the weeks ahead. We need to acknowledge that the economic impact of these new restrictions is significant.”
The lockdown came as another 58,784 people in Britain tested positive for COVID-19, marking the highest daily increase since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country, according to official figures released Monday.
It was the seventh day in a row, that new cases topped 50,000 in Britain. The total number of cases in the country now stands at 2,713,563, the data showed.
Another 407 died within 28 days of a positive test, bringing the total number of deaths to 75,431.– NNN-XINHUA
