LONDON (AP) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned on Sunday that there are likely to be more worrying restrictions on the closure in England in the coming weeks, as the country has a new coronavirus variant that has pushed infection rates to their highest recorded levels. has.
However, Johnson insisted he had ‘no doubt’ that schools were safe and urged parents to send their children back to the classroom in areas of England where they could. Trade unions representing teachers have called for schools to devote at least a few weeks to distance education more because of the new variant, which according to scientists is up to 70% more contagious.
The UK is in the midst of an acute outbreak, and has recorded more than 50,000 new coronavirus infections in the past 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 could involve tougher measures in the coming weeks,” Johnson said in an interview with the BBC. “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 use 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 that vaccines in their tens of thousands of millions will go off the rails and literally offer 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. ” which is likely to arise on 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. It was the first person to start vaccinating people over the age of 80 and health workers on December 8 with the 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 nation as a whole,” said Deputy Government Officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam. , said in an article for the newspaper Mail on Sunday.
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