British Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during a televised press conference at 10 Downing Street on 22 February 2021 in London, England.
Leon Neal | Getty Images News | Getty Images
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday had some good news for the country after months of blockade, saying an “unparalleled” vaccination program meant “now traveling a one-way path to freedom “.
The lockout for England will occur in several steps and will depend on the data at each stage, he said. The first step will be to reopen schools in England on 8 March. The last, scheduled for June 21, will mean the abolition of all mixing limits and the reopening of any sector that remains closed, such as nightclubs.
The United Kingdom has been one of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic, with the fourth highest number of infections after the United States, India and Brazil. To date, it has accounted for more than 4.1 million cases of coronavirus and recorded 120,810 fatalities as a result of the virus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
It experienced a sharp rise in cases towards the winter when a new, more infectious strain of the virus emerged in the southeast of the country. It has now become the dominant strain of the virus nationwide and has been detected in numerous countries around the world, along with other more virulent strains of the virus.
One of the strengths of the British pandemic experience has been its response to vaccination. It was the first country in the world to approve a coronavirus vaccine, the candidate for Pfizer and BioNTech.
He then approved and began administering the AstraZeneca-University of Oxford jab, a cheaper vaccine produced in the UK that is easier to transport and store than its rivals. As of Saturday, more than 17.5 million Britons have received the first dose of coronavirus vaccine, and more than 600,000 have received both doses, according to government data.
Falling new infections
The data show that new infections are falling, with initial studies indicating that coronavirus vaccines also help prevent the transmission of the virus, as well as prevent serious disease.
In the last seven days, the UK has seen 77,432 new cases of coronavirus, 16.2% less than the previous weekly count. The death toll in the last seven days, 3,414 fatalities, is also 27.4% lower than the previous seven-day count. Hospitalizations are also falling.
This is breaking news and will be updated soon.
—ColBC’s Holly Ellyatt contributed to this article.