LONDON – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday that stricter restrictions on closure are likely to be forthcoming as COVID-19 cases continue to increase, but that schools are safe and that children should continue to attend where allowed.
COVID-19 cases in Britain are at record levels and the increase in numbers is fueled by a new and more transmissible variant of the virus. The government has canceled the planned reopening of schools in and around London, but education unions want to close wider.
A large part of England already lives under the strictest level of restrictions under a four-tier system of regional regulations designed to stop the spread of the virus and protect the national healthcare system.
But in a BBC interview asked about concerns that the system may not be enough to bring the virus under control, Johnson said restrictions could be “tightened.”
“Obviously there are a series of stricter measures that we will have to consider … I’m not going to speculate now on what that would be,” he said.
Labor leader Opposition leader Keir Starmer said Johnson should implement a national exclusion within the next 24 hours.
“What we’ve learned is that the longer you put off difficult decisions, the worse it’s on the health front, the worse it’s on the economic front,” Starmer told reporters.
Johnson sets policies for England, with rules set in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales by their dedicated authorities.
Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon said her cabinet would meet on Monday to discuss possible further steps to curb the spread of the virus, and ordered the Scottish parliament to be recalled.
Britain on Sunday recorded 54,990 new cases of the virus and recorded more than 75,000 deaths due to the pandemic.
The government’s response has been heavily criticized. But the deployment of vaccines will accelerate on Monday with the first 530,000 doses of the newly approved Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine ready to be administered, Johnson said.
He hoped “tens of millions” would be treated over the next three months.
Millions of students have to return from their Christmas holidays on Monday, and Johnson advised parents to send their children to school in areas where the rules allow it.
“I have no doubt that schools are safe and that education is a priority,” he said.
Some local authorities and unions have warned against reopening schools and threatened to take government advice. Others say that closures also have a major negative impact on students.
“We need to renew the consensus and maintain that children’s school time should be kept to a minimum,” Amanda Spielman, high school inspector, wrote in the Sunday Telegraph.