Johnson will tell the House of Commons on Monday afternoon that, starting March 8, schools will finally reopen across England, as well as a very limited return to outdoor social interaction, including sitting on a school bench. park and have a coffee, which is currently not allowed.
The prime minister will also announce that from March 29, as schools spend their Easter holidays, more restrictions on social interactions will be lifted, allowing groups of six to gather in the air. free and socializations of entire households are made. Downing Street placed special emphasis on wanting to give something to elderly and vulnerable people, now vaccinated, who have been away from their families for almost a year.
Downing Street stressed that these are planned measures and that if the Covid-19 situation worsens in England, the country could be pushed back and kept closed.
The news comes as the deployment of vaccines in the UK continues to lead the rest of Europe, while scientific research indicates that vaccinations reduce the risk of hospitalization by up to 94%.
Scientists from the University of Edinburgh, the University of Strathclyde and Public Health Scotland examined data from people who had received the first dose of the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine. The data showed that four weeks after receiving the shot, the risk of being admitted to hospitals had been reduced to 85% and 94% respectively, according to the British news agency PA Media. Since Monday morning, the UK has given first doses to 17.5 million people, while the rate at which it can be vaccinated is increasing.
Monday’s announcement by the prime minister will mark the first step in a four-step path out of the closure. Johnson will later tell lawmakers that his government’s decisions “will be made on the latest data at every step, and we will be cautious about this approach so we don’t undo the progress we’ve made so far.”
The speed at which the country will emerge from the blockade will be established based on four key tests: how the vaccine is being launched; how vaccines affect hospitalizations and deaths; infection rates remain low; new variants that do not undermine the other three tests.
Johnson will say his priority “has always been to get children back to school, which we know is crucial to their education as well as their mental and physical well-being, and we will also prioritize ways to meet with children. loved ones”.
It is possible that his prudent approach and his focus on schools and families rather than the economy has drawn criticism from several Conservative councilors who have been pushing for a quicker exit from closure since the summer. At the time, infection rates had dropped and government sources told CNN at the time that priorities had shifted from containing the spread to reopening the hospitality industry. When the summer months were over, the infections returned and the virus mutated, requiring urgent action to stop the spread.