Boris Johnson Reimposes A Lockdown In UK Over New Covid-19 Variant

<p><em>Boris Johnson&comma; Prime Minister of the United Kingdom has reimpopsed a fresh lock down over new Covid-19 Variant<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that UK Prime Minister&comma; <strong>Boris<&sol;strong> 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&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;It is clear that we need to do more to bring this new variant under control&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Johnson said&period; &&num;8220&semi;That means the government is once again instructing you to stay at home&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;During his televised address to the nation&comma; Johnson reimposed measures seen during the first lockdown last spring&comma; including closures of secondary and primary schools to all except the children of key workers and vulnerable children&period; He added that this means it will not be &&num;8220&semi;possible or fair for all exams to go ahead this summer as normal&comma;&&num;8221&semi; and alternative arrangements are being put in place&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;People will be allowed to leave their homes for limited reasons like shopping for essentials&comma; exercise&comma; and medical assistance&period; Johnson also said people could still leave home &&num;8220&semi;to escape domestic abuse&&num;8221&semi; &&num;8212&semi; an issue that arose earlier during the pandemic&comma; as isolation and lockdown conditions exacerbated barriers to escape for victims of domestic violence&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">International<&sol;a> departures are now limited to those who have &&num;8220&semi;a legally permitted reason&comma;&&num;8221&semi; such as work&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Outdoor sports venues will have to close&period; But unlike spring&&num;8217&semi;s lockdown&comma; nurseries will not be shuttered&comma; elite sports can go ahead&comma; and places of worship will remain open on the basis that attendees adhere to social distancing rules&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The lockdown is expected to remain in place at least through the middle of February&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;His announcement follows that of Scotland&&num;8217&semi;s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon&comma; who announced a lockdown that will begin on midnight&comma; Tuesday&comma; local time&period; Wales and Northern Ireland &&num;8212&semi; the other nations of the UK &&num;8212&semi; are already in lockdown&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The UK is back in crisis mode as new daily Covid-19 cases soared above 50&comma;000 cases for nearly a week&comma; and hospitalizations exceed April&&num;8217&semi;s peak&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;According to Johnson&comma; there were 30&percnt; more Covid-19 patients in hospitals in England on Monday than a week earlier&period; The health ministry has said the country would move to the highest Covid-19 alert level&comma; reflecting concern that the rising number of hospitalizations could overwhelm country&&num;8217&semi;s National Health Service &lpar;NHS&rpar; in coming weeks&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;Many parts of the health systems in the four nations are already under immense pressure&period; There are currently very high rates of community transmission&comma; with substantial numbers of COVID patients in hospitals and in intensive care&comma;&&num;8221&semi; UK Chief Medical Officers said in a statement on Monday&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;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&comma;&&num;8221&semi; UK Chief Medical Officers said&comma; adding that the new variant&comma; believed to have originated in the UK&comma; has led to rising cases &&num;8220&semi;almost everywhere&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;However&comma; the UK government is pinning its hopes for a route out of this disaster through its Covid-19 vaccination program&comma; which began last month&period; Yet the country is long way from vaccinating the millions in the top priority groups mentioned by Johnson&comma; including people &&num;8220&semi;over the age of 70&comma; all frontline health workers and everyone who is clinically vulnerable&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Meanwhile&comma; there are widespread reported cased of increasing numbers of the disease across the world&period; The new variant appears&comma; in the estimation of scientists&comma; to be more deadlier&comma; a development that is making<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;"> government<&sol;a> of various countries to be reviewing different options including but not limited to lockdown&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;According to the World Health Organization&comma; WHO&comma; figures&comma; there have been 83&comma;910&comma; 386 confirmed cases of COVID-19&comma; including 1&comma;839&comma;660 deaths&comma; reported globally&comma; as of 5&colon;33pm CET&comma; 4 January 2021&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;