The British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, wearing a face mask to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, is visiting a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility during a visit to the North East of England on 13 February 2021.
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will announce on Monday how and when restrictions on the closure in England will begin to be lifted.
Government ministers are expected to discuss details of the ‘road map’ to carefully ease the closure on Monday morning. The prime minister will then present the proposals to parliament later this afternoon before giving a press conference on television that evening.
Johnson is expected to include the latest data on infection rates, hospitalizations and deaths, as well as early data showing the efficacy of coronavirus vaccines.
He is also expected to confirm that schools in England will reopen on March 8 and reveal more details about other restrictions that will be lifted.
The government said in a statement that the lifting of the country’s third exclusion, which has been in effect since early January, ” will seek to balance health, economic and social factors with the latest epidemiological data and advice. ‘
Dates, not dates
Johnson has repeatedly said that the relaxation of measures will be cautious and driven by “data, not dates.” However, he also said he wanted the lifting of restrictions to be ‘irreversible’ because he was coming under pressure from members of his Conservative party to reopen the economy.
The government nevertheless maintained that the relief should be done in phases to prevent jumps in infection rates.
“Today I will draw up a road map to carefully bring us out of the closure,” Boris Johnson said in comments released ahead of Monday’s announcement.
“Our priority has always been to get children back into school, which we know is crucial to their education, as well as their mental and physical well-being, and we will also prioritize ways in which people can reunite safely with loved ones.”
Patients arrive in ambulances at the Royal London Hospital on 5 January 2021 in London, England. The British prime minister delivered a national television speech on Monday night announcing that England would enter its third exclusion from the covid-19 pandemic. This week, for the seventh day in a row, the UK recorded more than 50,000 new confirmed cases of Covid.
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“We will decide to take the latest data in every step, and we will be careful about this approach so that we do not undo the progress we have made so far and the sacrifices each of you have made to yourself and others. safe, ”he added.
Four key tests
Johnson said the government had set up four key tests that had to be met before Britain could move through every step of the plan. These are:
- That the vaccine deployment program continues successfully.
- Evidence shows that vaccines are effective enough to reduce hospitalizations and deaths in those who are vaccinated.
- Infection rates may not mean an increase in hospitalizations, which will put unsustainable pressure on the National Health Service.
- That the assessment of the risks is not fundamentally changed by new coronavirus variants that are of concern.
The government has said that as the four tests are currently being complied with, the first step towards lifting the restrictions will continue from March 8. The government has already said that residents of care homes will be able to have one visitor from that date.
After schools reopened, the government indicated that more measures could be facilitated to enable limited outdoor socialization and sport.
The BBC reported on Monday that from March 29, outdoor gatherings of either six people or two households are expected to be allowed, and that outdoor sports facilities, such as tennis or basketball courts, could reopen. The broadcaster added that “it is also understood that people will be able to travel out of their areas again – although guidelines are likely to still be recommended to stay locally, and overnight stays are not allowed.” It is uncertain when pubs, restaurants and non-essential shops will be allowed to reopen.
Variants and vaccinations
The vaccination response was a silver lining in the UK experience of the pandemic. It was the first country in the world to approve a coronavirus vaccine, the candidate from Pfizer and BioNTech, and applied the shot in early December to its oldest members of the population, care workers and health care and hospital staff.
Subsequently, the AstraZeneca / University of Oxford jab approved and administered, a cheaper vaccine produced in the United Kingdom that can be transported and stored more easily than competing jabs, enabling an enviable amount of vaccinations to be maintained.
It has since expanded to include more priority groups, such as all deemed clinically vulnerable, and plans to vaccinate every UK adult citizen before the end of July, which will reach the target from September. As of Saturday, more than 17.5 million adults had received their first dose of coronavirus vaccine, with more than 600,000 both doses, according to government data.
Data show that new infections are declining, with early studies suggesting that coronavirus vaccines also help prevent transmission of the virus, as well as prevent serious diseases.
In the last seven days, the UK has seen 77,432 new cases of coronavirus, a decrease of 16.2% from the previous weekly count. The number of deaths in the last seven days, 3,414 deaths, is also 27.4% lower than the previous count of seven days. Hospitalizations are also falling.