British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said tougher measures would be needed to combat the pandemic, including the closure of the school.
In an interview with Andrew Marr of the BBC on Sunday, Johnson did not elaborate on the kind of additional measures needed, and he rejected criticism that his government was too slow to act as the more contagious form of the virus quickly spread across the country. .
“It may be that in the next few weeks we have to do things that are more difficult in many parts of the country,” Johnson said. “The UK is struggling with a new variant of the virus that is on the rise, especially in London and the south-east, so we have had to take exceptional measures for certain areas.”
One of the biggest questions the government is currently facing is how to manage school reopening at a time when virus cases in the UK exceed 50,000 a day. Johnson’s administration tried to keep classes running in England on an ongoing basis, and on Sunday the prime minister wanted to assure parents that schools are safe and that the virus poses little risk to young people.
“We have held schools for a long, long time in areas where the pandemic is very high,” Johnson said. “We need to constantly review things, but we will not be driven by any political considerations, but entirely by the public health issue.”
Johnson’s statements stand in stark contrast to warnings from teachers’ unions, who have warned members not to return to classrooms. In London, which has one of the country’s highest levels of Covid-19 infections per capita, the government has ordered all primary schools to remain closed this week for the start of the new term.
Forced to drive back
During the pandemic, the British government was forced to return several times over attempts to reopen the economy, especially as the virus’ revival in the winter pushes public health services to the brink. Recently, Johnson was forced to reverse plans that would loosen the rules for social distance over Christmas.
Asked about Britain’s plans for mass vaccinations, Johnson gave no details on how the country could deliver 2 million vaccines a week.
“Everyone is working hard on it,” he said. “We do hope that we will be able to do tens of millions over the next three months. ”
In Scotland, Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Monday called for the recall of Parliament in Edinburgh so that she could draw up extra measures to combat rising infections. Currently, schools have to return to a long Christmas holiday on January 18 for personal tuition.
Daily Covid-19 cases have risen to records, and Sturgeon said the country is facing its most critical weeks since the pandemic. The new strain counts for four out of ten new infections, a public health expert at the University of Edinburgh told the BBC.
– Assisted by Rodney Jefferson
(Background updates on lock-up rules in sixth paragraph.)