In a televised address Monday night, Prime Minister Lyndon Johnson announced that England was once again under lockdown to stem a surge of novel Coronavirus cases. The rapid spread of the novel coronavirus has prompted the UK to step up its lockdown despite the start on Monday of vaccinating people against the novel coronavirus developed by Oxford University in collaboration with Astrazeneca. Scotland has announced the toughest restrictions since last spring.
In Britain, there were 58,784 new cases confirmed on Monday, a new single-day high. That’s more than 50,000 confirmed cases for seven days in a row; There were 407 new deaths.
In her remarks, Ms. Johnson said that the strain of a more infectious variant Coronavirus was rapidly spreading and that the hospital was more stressed than ever “frustrating and shocking” and that urgent action was needed. Johnson said that if no action is taken to raise the alert level to phase 5, the health system could be overwhelmed within 21 days.
Johnson also announced a number of anti-epidemic measures, saying people should stay at home if not necessary, with primary and secondary schools switching to online education on Tuesday. Mr Johnson said he fully understood the inconvenience and pressure on parents and that the government had always kept schools open as far as possible, but schools could act as a vehicle for the spread of the virus from family to family.
Mr Johnson also said that, unlike the previous lockdown, the UK was in the midst of its biggest vaccination campaign. More people have been vaccinated so far than in the rest of Europe combined. With the second Oxford and Astrazeneca vaccine, the pace of vaccination is picking up. If the vaccination programme goes well and the number of confirmed and dead cases drops, the lockdown could begin to be lifted by the middle of next month.
The British Parliament will also meet on Wednesday to discuss the measures.
Downing Street has said further steps must now be taken to stem the rise in confirmed cases, protect the health system and save lives.
Scotland’s first minister Shieh Ya-ching earlier announced the toughest lockdown in Scotland since last spring. People must stay at home if not necessary.
Britain on Monday began to receive a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University in collaboration with pharmaceutical company Astrazeneca. The first person to receive the second version of the vaccine approved by the UK government was 82-year-old Brian Pinker, who received the vaccine at Oxford University Hospital. Pinker says she’s glad she got the vaccine. The government has ordered 100 million doses of Oxford University’s COVID-19 vaccine, developed in partnership with Astrazeneca, and more than 500,000 doses were available on Monday.
More than 730 vaccination sites have been set up in the UK and more will be opened in the near future. The first COVID-19 vaccine approved in the UK was developed by Pfizer of the US in partnership with Germany’s Biotechnologies. The Department of Health says more than one million people have received the vaccine so far.
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