UK approves national closure as new distribution of Covid-19 strain

The imposition of a third national exclusion came after government medical officials warned that the more contagious tensions were spreading rapidly across the country and that some hospitals were likely to be overwhelmed within three weeks if new restrictions were not imposed. .

There are now more Covid-19 patients in UK hospitals than at the height of the spring pandemic. Mr. Johnson said the fight against the virus had reached a critical stage. “Obviously we need to work more together to bring this new variant under control,” he said.

The British government is engaged in a logistical race as it tries to vaccinate its population to slow down the spread of the virus and protect vulnerable people. Britain has moved faster than other European countries to approve and export Covid-19 vaccines. To date, more than a million people have received a Covid-19 vaccine shot in the UK

However, the new variant of the virus has taken hold in the country since December and is spreading rapidly, British scientists have warned. Mr. Johnson said scientists estimate that it is 50 to 70% more transmissible than before.

Epidemiologists model that the exponential spread of the virus is stopped, the immunization of about two million people per week and strict social restrictions are required. The concern is another highly contagious mutation of the virus from South Africa.

British infection rates have already started to increase. The number of people who tested positive for Covid-19 has doubled in the past week to 366,000 as of Monday. Hospital numbers rose by 30% within a week. The number of deaths during the week rose by a quarter to 4,228.

The build-up to the latest exclusion was marked by Johnson, who gradually tightened the rules amid scuffles by scientific advisers who said Britain’s system of restricted regions was not working. Already on Sunday, Johnson called on parents to send their children to school where possible.

The government has stopped announcing a stricter nationwide exclusion while waiting for evidence of how stricter social restrictions in the south of the country affect the spread of the virus.

Earlier on Monday, Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon moved to Scotland until the end of January.

With the launch of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca PLC and the University of Oxford on Monday, government officials are hopeful that vaccination rates could rise significantly by the second half of the month. Britain has already set up nearly 1,000 mass injection works across the country and has deployed thousands of retired nurses and doctors to administer the shots. The government is rushing to vaccinate the 13 million Britons who are at greatest risk due to the virus.

“We are now launching the largest vaccination program in our history,” he said. Johnson said. By mid-February, everyone at greatest risk of the virus had to get a vaccine, he said. At that point, many restrictions can be removed, Mr. Johnson said.

Both the AstraZeneca-Oxford shot and the vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc.

and BioNTech SE, which were approved in the UK earlier in December, should be two doses fully effective.

Amid a bottleneck in supply, Britain wants to get more vaccine for more people by extending the time between the first and second dose, hoping to give more people immunity by giving more people one chance before giving a second.

Late last month, British medical officials wrote to health workers arguing that allowing a twelve-week gap between shots would ensure more people could get a basic level of protection. “As with all decisions during this pandemic, it is about balancing risks and benefits,” they wrote.

Some experts question whether this approach is given. Pfizer said there is no evidence to suggest that a single dose of the vaccine provides protection after 21 days. But a committee advising the UK government on vaccination and vaccination said last month that there was no evidence that the Pfizer shot would behave differently from the Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines, the latter of which had a strong immune response after a longer gap between shots.

Even with higher vaccination rates, restrictions are likely to be needed for some time to come. A study by Imperial College London found that the new mutated variant of the coronavirus increases the “R” number – or increases the number of people infecting each person with the infection by 0.4 to 0.7 on average. This could negate the impact of the existing restrictions on social distance that apply in a large part of the country before Monday.

This is the third time the UK has gone into a national exclusion. Lockouts have already been implemented in the UK in March and November to slow the spread of the virus.

“Now we have to come together more than ever,” he said. Johnson said. “We are entering the final phase of the struggle.”

Write to Max Colchester by [email protected]