Boris Johnson hits England with full lock as NHS faces deep Covid crisis

Photographer: Simon Dawson / Bloomberg

Boris Johnson instituted a third closure of the coronavirus across England, closing schools and ordering the public to stay home, amid serious warnings that the National Health Service is in danger of being overwhelmed.

The emergency measures will begin immediately and last until at least February 15, which could devastate retail and hospitality businesses and threaten to push the economy into a double recession as medics try to master the pandemic.

In a televised speech to the country, the prime minister insisted he had no choice but to close all social activities, education and non-essential travel, amid a sudden and severe increase in infections. Similar steps are being taken in the rest of the UK, he said.

The government now intends to draw up a vaccination program and reach 13.9 million vulnerable people and caregivers by mid-February, so that restrictions can be lifted.

“Our hospitals have been under more pressure from Covid than ever since the start of the pandemic,” Johnson said in the broadcast. “With most of the country already under extreme measures, it is clear that we need to do more to bring this new variant under control while our vaccines are being rolled out.”

Police fines

The police will have legal powers to use fines and distribution orders to enforce the rules. Parliament will be recalled to debate the measures on Wednesday, but the regulations must become law on Tuesday, officials said.

The prime minister was forced to act after the information showed that new infections had risen to more than 50,000 a day and more people in hospital than in the first peak of the virus in April.

By January 4, there were 26,626 patients in the hospital with Covid-19, a 30% increase in a week, blaming the government for an increase in infections by a new, faster-spreading virus strain.

Johnson’s Third Covid Lockdown Rules for England

Everyone should stay home unless they are medics or other key workers who cannot work from home People can only leave home to buy essential supplies or exercise, ideally only once a day All primary and secondary schools and colleges close from Tuesday and move on to online tuition; exams will not proceed normally this summer; nurseries remain open University students should not return to campus, but rather study from home Households cannot mix for social reasons All restaurants, bars and non-essential shops will remain closed except where they sell takeaways. Restaurant sales of take-away alcohol are prohibited Major retailers such as supermarkets and pharmacies will remain open Support and childcare bubbles – in which households link to help each other – can continue

Johnson resists pressure from scientists and opposition lawmakers to close the entire country in December. He slashed plans to have families mingle with Christmas, but insisted he wanted to avoid nationwide curbs like those seen in March and preferred to keep a local level system in place.

But government medical officials for the four countries in the UK warned on Monday that health care could not cope without urgent action. They issued a statement two hours before the prime minister’s announcement, saying the NHS was already “under tremendous pressure”.

Overwhelm

“We are not confident that the NHS can handle a further sustained increase in business, and without further action there is a significant risk that the NHS will be overwhelmed in various areas over the next 21 days,” they said. said in a statement in which the national warning said level is now at the highest level five. “Cases are increasing almost everywhere.”

Scotland had earlier announced a closure starting at midnight. “We are now in a race between the vaccine and the virus,” Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon said as she ordered the Scots to stay home and that schools should remain closed.

Johnson kept it a priority for his government to keep schools open for personal learning, but scientists warned last month that they should close to stop the virus from spreading. While children rarely suffer from the disease, they can infect their families after contracting it with their friends.

This is far from the government’s optimism in early December, when the advent of vaccines was described as the ‘scientific equestrian’ coming to the rescue.

The prime minister insisted on Monday that he wanted to vaccinate about 14 million elderly and vulnerable people and their carers, including medics at the front, by mid-February.

“If we managed to vaccinate all the groups, we would have removed a large number of people from the virus,” Johnson said. “And of course, that will ultimately enable us to lift many of the constraints we have endured for so long.”

But there will be a “delay” between vaccinating patients and putting pressure on NHS easing, Johnson said, adding that he is “careful with the timetable ahead.”

The dilemma for the government was to balance efforts to stop the spread of the virus against the need to keep shops and businesses open to protect the economy, which had already experienced its deepest recession since the Great Frost in 1709.

A double recession seems increasingly inevitable due to the new exclusion. Prior to Johnson’s announcement, most economists expected the UK economy to generate some growth this quarter.

According to a tweet from Ludovic Subran, chief economist at Four Weeks, the school could cost up to 3% of GDP. Alliance SE. Bloomberg Economics estimates that up to 6% of the labor supply in Europe could be affected by the reduction of childcare options.

– With the help of Alex Morales, Lucy Meakin and Joe Mayes

(Add the vaccination target, details, comments)