British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned on Sunday that there were likely to be more worrying restrictions on the closure period in England in the coming weeks, new coronavirus variant which pushed infection rates to the highest recorded levels.
However, Johnson insisted that he “undoubtedly” exists that schools are safe, and urged parents to send their children back to the classroom in areas of England where they can. Trade unions representing teachers asked schools to turn to distance education for at least a few weeks more due to the new variant, which according to scientists is up to 70% more contagious.
The UK is struggling with an acute outbreak and is recording more than 50,000 new coronavirus infections a day during the last six days. On Sunday, it increased another 54,990 cases, slightly lower than the previous day’s daily record of 57,725. The country also recorded another 454 virus-related deaths to take the total to 75,024. According to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University, the United Kingdom alternates with Italy as the worst European country.
“We are fully reconciled to do what is necessary to bring the virus under control, which may involve tougher measures in the coming weeks,” Johnson said in an interview with BBC News. “There are, of course, a number of stricter measures that we will have to consider.”
Johnson conceded that the closure of schools, curfew arrangements and the total ban on domestic mixing could be on the agenda for areas with the greatest tension.
London and South East England have an exceptionally high level of new infections, and it is speculated that the restrictions there need to be tightened to bring the virus under control. In some parts of the British capital and surrounding areas, there are more than 1,000 cases per 100,000 people.
Johnson’s Conservative government uses a low-level coronavirus restriction system. Most of England is already at the highest level 4 level, which includes the closure of shops selling non-essential items and places such as gyms and leisure centers, as well as a homeschooling.
“What we are using now is the tiger system, which is a very tough system, and unfortunately probably harder to keep things under control,” he said. “We will review it and we have the prospect of vaccines coming down in their millions upon millions of traces, literally giving people life and hope.”
Keir Starmer, the leader of the main opposition Labor Party, urged Johnson to impose further national restrictions the next day or so, although he stopped closing schools because he said he did not want to contribute to the chaos. likely to arise Monday.
“The virus is clearly out of control,” Starmer said. “We can not allow the prime minister to use up the next two or three weeks and then bring in a national exclusion that is inevitable.”
Starmer also said it is inevitable that more schools will close and urged the government to devise a plan for students as well as for working parents.
One area that has moved the UK fast is on the vaccination front. He was the first person to be vaccinated on December 8 with people over the age of 80 and vaccinated health workers Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine. Last week, regulators approved another vaccine from the University of Oxford and pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, which is cheaper and easier to use than the Pfizer vaccine.
Hundreds of new vaccination sites will be up and running this week as the National Health Service increases its vaccination program with the Oxford-AstraZeneca survey. Officials say about 530,000 doses of the new vaccine will be in place by Monday, as the country is moving towards its goal of inoculating 2 million people a week as soon as possible.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine will be administered in a small number of hospitals over the first few days so that the authorities can be on the lookout for adverse reactions. Hundreds of new vaccination sites – at both hospitals and local doctor’s offices – will be launched this week and will join the more than 700 already in operation, NHS England said.
In a shift in practices in the US and elsewhere, Britain plans to give people the second doses of both vaccines within twelve weeks after the first shot rather than within 21 days, in order to accelerate vaccination against as many people as possible.
“My mother, as well as you or your older loved ones, may be affected by this decision, but it is still the right thing to do for the country as a whole,” said Deputy Prime Minister Jonathan Van- Tam. , said in an article for the newspaper Mail on Sunday.