UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday announced a six-week lockdown in second phases for England’s 56 million people, including the shut down of schools, after a surge in coronavirus cases brought warnings that “hospitals could soon face collapse”.
Johnson stressed that Britain was leading the way with the introduction of two vaccines – including one from Oxford University and AstraZeneca – which started its rollout on Monday.
“All priority groups should get their jabs by mid-February,” he said in a nationally televised address, insisting that “we are tilting the odds against Covid and in favor of the British people”. – AFP.
“But for now I’m afraid we must once again stay at home, protect the NHS (National Health Service) and save lives,” said Johnson, adding the lockdown would take effect early Wednesday and remain in place until mid-February.
The prime minister had been under pressure from scientists, opposition parties and the UK’s devolved nations to act more decisively. Earlier in the day, Scotland said “it would lock down again for the rest of the month”.
In a race between the inoculation campaign and Covid-19, the spread of the new variant strain of the virus is threatening to win, the UK’s chief medical officers warned as they elevated a national alert level to the maximum five.
On Britain’s emergency alert scale, that signals a risk of health care services being overwhelmed within 21 days without urgent action.
The BBC, meanwhile, reported that the United Kingdom announced the first phase of lockdown in March to tackle the coronavirus infections. Ten months later they announced another lockdown again. But the situation is more delicate not only in Britain but also in Scotland and Northern Ireland where they already announced the lockdown.
This lockdown will continue throughout the month of January. No one can go out at this time without work and urgent need. Those who cannot work at home will be allowed to go to the office. From Tuesday, all schools and colleges will start taking classes on the online platform.
It is to be mentioned that so far 2.6 million people in the UK have been affected by Covid-19. More than 75,000 people lost their lives. Over the past week, more than 50,000 people have been infected with the new strain of coronavirus daily.DailyBangladesh/AS Source: https://www.daily-bangladesh.com
