The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, warned that it could toughen the coronavirus blockade if people do not follow the rules, as his government supported its execution.
Johnson said any “complacency” about the disease is out of place, even though a vaccination program is underway and so far 2.2 million people have been shot.
But he risked undermining his own call to the public to stay home and act responsibly when it emerged he had taken a 7-mile bike ride around London on Sunday.
“It simply came to our notice then feel that things are not being observed properly, we may need to do more, “Johnson said during a visit to a vaccination center at a sports stadium in Bristol in the south-west of England. The vaccine launch it’s a “race against time,” with the country at a “very dangerous time,” as infection rates soar, he said.
Britain is facing its hardest period of the pandemic, with hospital admissions up 22% in a week to more than 32,000, and the death toll now more than 80,000. Last week, Johnson announced a third national blockade, a move that threatens to push the UK into another recession and aggravate the damage of the first blockade, which caused the deepest contraction in 300 years.
The vaccination program is key to economic recovery, Treasury Chancellor Rishi Sunak said Monday.
The government aims to start relaxing restrictions after Feb. 15, a scheduled date for which Johnson wants the 15 million most vulnerable people and their caregivers to receive at least one dose of vaccination.
While Britain is far ahead of other European countries in vaccine development, a new, more contagious variant of the disease is pushing the health service to the breaking point. Medical advisers and officials are increasingly concerned that the public is not complying with the rules and that hospitals will soon be overwhelmed.
Bike ride
Johnson said the blocking rules must be properly applied in grocery stores and urged people to think carefully before leaving home for any reason. Hospitals are under intense pressure due to a wave of Covid-19 cases, and oxygen supply is in short supply in some areas, he said.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said everyone shares the responsibility for ensuring compliance and praised Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc chain for saying it would deny entry to anyone who doesn’t wear a mask without a specific exemption.
“I am delighted that the police are stepping up their enforcement, but it’s not just about the government and the rules we set, or the police and the work they do, but how everyone behaves,” he said at a news conference. “I applaud the action Morrisons has taken today,” he said. “This is the right approach.”
The prime minister’s office faced questions about its own action after London’s Evening Standard reported that Johnson was seen cycling around the Olympic Park, 7 miles east of his official residence. , around 2pm on Sunday. Official government guidelines allow people to leave home in order to exercise, but it advises people to stay within their “local area”.
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Hancock said the rules allow long bike rides and 7-mile walks.
But the episode threatens to revive the behavior of former Johnson aide Dominic Cummings, who last spring was accused of breaching blockade rules by driving more than 250 miles outside London when the country was said to be stay home. Johnson’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on his trip.
In other developments:
- Sunak warned of the country’s third blockade, which began last week, meaning “the economy will get worse before it improves.”
- The NHS said the full impact of relaxing the rules over Christmas has not yet been seen in the event of rates
- 40% of those over the age of 80 have received at least one vaccine, with a total of 2.6 million vaccines given so far.
- The government released its vaccine distribution plan, promising to vaccinate tens of millions of people by spring, with “at least” 2 million injections carried out each week at more than 2,700 vaccination sites across the UK .
– With the assistance of Stuart Biggs, Alex Morales, Joe Mayes and Deirdre Hipwell