LONDON (AP) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned on Sunday that there are likely to be heavier blocking restrictions in England as the country moves on to a new coronavirus variant that has raised infection rates at the highest levels recorded.
Johnson, however, insisted he had “no doubt” that schools are safe and urged parents to return their children to the classroom in areas of England where they could. Unions representing teachers have called for schools to resort to remote learning for at least a couple of weeks more due to the new variant, which scientists say is up to 70% more contagious.
The UK is in the midst of an acute outbreak, recording more than 50,000 new coronavirus infections a day over the past six days. On Sunday, it recorded 54,990 more cases, slightly below the daily record of 57,725. The country also recorded another 454 virus-related deaths to reach 75,024. According to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University, the United Kingdom alternates with Italy as the most affected European nation.
“We are completely reconciled to do whatever it takes to control the virus, which could lead to tougher measures in the coming weeks,” Johnson said in an interview with the BBC. “Obviously, there are a number of tougher measures that we should consider.”
Johnson admitted that school closures, curfews and a total ban on domestic mixing could be on the agenda for the most stressful areas.
London and the south-east of England are facing extremely high levels of new infections and it is speculated that restrictions will have to be tightened to control the virus. In some parts of and around the British capital, there are around 1,000 cases per 100,000 people.
The Johnson administration uses a system of level-based coronavirus restrictions. Most of England is already at the highest level of level 4, which involves closing shops that do not sell non-essential items and places such as gyms and leisure centers, as well as an instruction to stay home.
“What we’re using right now is the level system, which is a very tough system, and unfortunately it’s probably about to be harder to keep things under control,” he said. “We will review it and we have the potential for vaccines to go down the runways by the tens of millions, giving people literally life and hope.”
The UK has made rapid progress in vaccination. He was the first to start vaccinating people over 80 and health workers on Dec. 8 with the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine. Last week, regulators approved another vaccine made by Oxford University and pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, which is cheaper and easier to use than the Pfizer vaccine.
Hundreds of new vaccination sites are expected to be up and running this week as the National Health Service increases its vaccination program with the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot. Officials say about 530,000 doses of the new vaccine will be in place Monday as the country moves toward its goal of vaccinating 2 million people a week as soon as possible.
“Hopefully we can make tens of millions in the next three months,” Johnson said.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine will be administered in a small number of hospitals during the first few days so that authorities can be on the lookout for any adverse reactions. Hundreds of new vaccination sites, both in hospitals and local medical offices, will have to be launched this week, adding to the more than 700 that are already in operation, NHS England said.
In a change of practice in the US and elsewhere, Britain plans to give people doses of both vaccines within 12 weeks after the first vaccine instead of 21 days, to speed up vaccinations to as many people as possible. soon better.
“My mother, as well as you or your loved ones of legal age, may be affected by this decision, but it is still the right one for the nation at large,” said the government’s deputy director general, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam. , he said in an article in the newspaper Mail on Sunday.
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