When England closed again on Tuesday, new figures showed that one in 50 people had recently been infected with the virus, and officials warned that next winter more restrictions on daily life would be needed.
At a news conference, Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised to focus on the government’s efforts to institute its tense mass vaccination program aimed at preventing an increase in infections from a highly contagious variant of the virus from overwhelming the health service.
With more than a million confirmed cases in the week ending January 2, or 2 per cent of the English population, Britain is in a race against time to distribute vaccines.
Mr. Johnson spoke at a day when the government said more than 60,000 new cases had been recorded for the first time. Professor Chris Whitty, English chief medical officer, said with him that the number of daily deaths, which currently averages about 530, is expected to rise and that if people do not follow an exclusion order to stay at home, the risk ‘extraordinarily large’. high. ”
He also warned that Britons could face some restrictions in the future.
“We may have to bring in some, for example next winter – it’s possible – because winter will benefit the virus,” Professor Whitty said.
Mr. Johnson said 1.3 million people have already been vaccinated and that he hopes the most vulnerable, a group of the elderly and about 13 million people, can be protected by the vaccine within about six weeks, which will turn the tide in the fight against the virus.
“We in government are now using every second of this closure to place the invisible shield around the elderly and vulnerable in the form of vaccinations,” he said.
Mr. Johnson said England would be locked up until the vaccine reached the four most vulnerable groups: residents in nursing homes and those caring for it, all over 70, all health and social care workers and anyone clinically extremely vulnerable.
“If we succeed in vaccinating all the groups, we will have removed a large number of people from the virus,” he said.
The goal can be reached by mid-February.
But to do so, the rate of vaccinations must increase drastically.
According to the minister of Nadhim Zahawi, the minister of vaccine supervision, there are 13.9 million people in the four groups quoted by the prime minister.
Since the campaign began on December 8, less than 800,000 people have been vaccinated in England on December 27, the last date on which data was available.
But with the launch on Monday of the first doses of a vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca – shots that are easier to transport and do not need to be stored at very cold temperatures – British officials said the campaign can now be followed up. on.
To achieve the goal of mr. To reach Johnson, approximately two million doses should be given each week.
Mr. Johnson also said he was planning a new system to ensure that those traveling to Britain have a negative coronavirus test before they arrive. But he was forced to defend himself against allegations that he moved too slowly to order the exclusion, and showed poor judgment by insisting at the weekend that many schools in England reopen after the winter holidays on Monday – just to decided Monday night to reverse. .