A woman walks past a closed souvenir stop and government messages in a phone booth on Oxford Street in London.
Photographer: Chris J. Ratcliffe / Bloomberg
Photographer: Chris J. Ratcliffe / Bloomberg
Prime Minister Boris Johnson told England that the blockade of the national virus will continue for at least another six weeks, with schools remaining closed and new border quarantine rules coming into force.
A day after exceeding 100,000 British deaths, Johnson said the government will review the impact of pandemic measures and the effectiveness of the vaccine program in mid-February.
But the quicker restrictions could begin to ease and schools reopened completely on March 8, he said, and some rules will be tightened.
In an attempt to stop the dangerous mutant strains of the virus entering the UK, new 10-day hotel quarantine measures will be imposed on all passengers arriving from hot spot regions such as South America, South Africa and Portugal.
“Everyone longs to know how long we have to endure these restrictions, with all their consequences for jobs, livelihoods and most tragically of all, our children’s life chances,” Johnson told members Wednesday. of Parliament. “We won’t persist one more day than necessary, but we can’t relax too soon either.”
Elevation lock
Johnson turned down a call from fellow Tory Steve Brine to consider opening some schools before March 8th. “This is as fast as we think we can go prudently,” the prime minister told Parliament. While the blockade appears to have slowed the spread of infections, “we still don’t have enough data to know exactly how long it will be safe to reopen our society and economy,” he said.
The UK has celebrated its third national closure in three weeks since the pandemic began almost a year ago, with tens of millions of workers ordered to stay home and close retail and hospitality businesses. Since then, the government has pledged nearly £ 300 billion in emergency support to the economy.
In recent weeks, the Johnson administration has focused on launching a mass vaccination program that aims to provide shots to the 15 million most vulnerable people and caregivers by Feb. 15. Once this goal is achieved, ministers will consider whether and how restrictions can safely begin to relax.
Johnson said the UK remains “very confident” of receiving supplies from Oxford /The AstraZeneca vaccine, in the middle of a continuous vaccine between the company and the European Union on the deliveries of its features.
Vaccine supply
The vaccine “continues to be manufactured in increasing quantities in the UK” and will “accelerate,” Johnson said at a televised press conference.
Despite blockades and stimulus measures, the UK has suffered the fifth highest death toll in the world and the strongest economic success of any country in the Group of Seven.
Britain recorded 1,725 deaths on Wednesday, compared to the seven-day daily average of 1,242 deaths, and more than a million people in the country are infected with the disease, said chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance.
“We’re still in a dangerous situation,” Johnson said. The spread of a new, more contagious and potentially more deadly strain of the virus, found for the first time in the south-east of England, has pushed back the government’s ambitions to reopen the economy in the spring, he said.
New variants
Other strains have been identified in Brazil and South Africa and ministers have discussed border measures, including quarantining all hotel arrivals. In the end, Johnson announced a more limited policy aimed at arrivals from specific countries that are believed to be at the highest risk of carrying a new variant of the disease.
“In order to reduce the risk posed by UK citizens and residents returning home from these countries, I can announce that we will require all those arrivals who cannot be denied entry to be isolated during 10 days in government-provided accommodation, such as hotels, without exception, “the prime minister told the House of Commons. “They will be received at the airport and transported directly to quarantine.”
Additional police will also be stationed at ports and airports to prevent the British from leaving the UK to go on holiday or for any other non-essential reason, Interior Minister Priti Patel said. “Anyone who does not have a valid reason to travel will be directed to return home,” he told Parliament.
Johnson, who has been criticized for taking action throughout the pandemic, said the government will review the blockade and release of vaccines in mid-February and aims to publish a plan to ease restrictions by the week of May 22 February.
“We have one of the highest death rates in the world,” said Keir Starmer, leader of the UK’s main opposition Labor party. “The truth is that this was not inevitable, it was not just bad luck. It is the result of a large number of mistakes by the Prime Minister during this pandemic. “
(Updates with vaccine details, death data from the ninth paragraph)