Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom has reimpopsed a fresh lock down over new Covid-19 Variant
OpenLife Nigeria reports that UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson reimposed a lockdown in England on Monday as a more transmissible variant of Covid-19 fuels a surge in infections and hospitalizations in the country.
“It is clear that we need to do more to bring this new variant under control,” Johnson said. “That means the government is once again instructing you to stay at home.”
During his televised address to the nation, Johnson reimposed measures seen during the first lockdown last spring, including closures of secondary and primary schools to all except the children of key workers and vulnerable children. He added that this means it will not be “possible or fair for all exams to go ahead this summer as normal,” and alternative arrangements are being put in place.
People will be allowed to leave their homes for limited reasons like shopping for essentials, exercise, and medical assistance. Johnson also said people could still leave home “to escape domestic abuse” — an issue that arose earlier during the pandemic, as isolation and lockdown conditions exacerbated barriers to escape for victims of domestic violence.
International departures are now limited to those who have “a legally permitted reason,” such as work.
Outdoor sports venues will have to close. But unlike spring’s lockdown, nurseries will not be shuttered, elite sports can go ahead, and places of worship will remain open on the basis that attendees adhere to social distancing rules.
The lockdown is expected to remain in place at least through the middle of February.
His announcement follows that of Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who announced a lockdown that will begin on midnight, Tuesday, local time. Wales and Northern Ireland — the other nations of the UK — are already in lockdown.
The UK is back in crisis mode as new daily Covid-19 cases soared above 50,000 cases for nearly a week, and hospitalizations exceed April’s peak.
According to Johnson, there were 30% more Covid-19 patients in hospitals in England on Monday than a week earlier. The health ministry has said the country would move to the highest Covid-19 alert level, reflecting concern that the rising number of hospitalizations could overwhelm country’s National Health Service (NHS) in coming weeks.
“Many parts of the health systems in the four nations are already under immense pressure. There are currently very high rates of community transmission, with substantial numbers of COVID patients in hospitals and in intensive care,” UK Chief Medical Officers said in a statement on Monday.
“We are not confident that the NHS can handle a further sustained rise in cases and without further action there is a material risk of the NHS in several areas being overwhelmed over the next 21 days,” UK Chief Medical Officers said, adding that the new variant, believed to have originated in the UK, has led to rising cases “almost everywhere.”
However, the UK government is pinning its hopes for a route out of this disaster through its Covid-19 vaccination program, which began last month. Yet the country is long way from vaccinating the millions in the top priority groups mentioned by Johnson, including people “over the age of 70, all frontline health workers and everyone who is clinically vulnerable.”
Meanwhile, there are widespread reported cased of increasing numbers of the disease across the world. The new variant appears, in the estimation of scientists, to be more deadlier, a development that is making government of various countries to be reviewing different options including but not limited to lockdown.
According to the World Health Organization, WHO, figures, there have been 83,910, 386 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 1,839,660 deaths, reported globally, as of 5:33pm CET, 4 January 2021.
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