The British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, today, Monday, announced a new national lockdown that will last at least until mid-February to combat a new variant of the rapidly spreading coronavirus.
Johnson said the country is at “a critical time” and cases are rapidly increasing in all parts of the country.
Under the new rules, which will come into effect as soon as possible, primary and secondary schools and universities will be closed to face-to-face learning, except for the children of key workers. Students will not return until mid-February.
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All non-essential stores and personal care shops, such as hairdressing salons, will be closed and restaurants will only be able to offer takeout.
Monday, there were 26,626 COVID patients in hospitals in England, an increase of more than 30% from a week ago. That is 40% above the highest level of the first wave in the spring.
Also on Monday, Britain took another big step in the fight against COVID-19 on Monday by giving the world’s first injections of the vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, strengthening its vaccination program.
Brian Pinker, an 82-year-old dialysis patient, became the first person to be vaccinated by the chief nurse at Oxford University Hospital. Pinker said he was very happy with the vaccination, noting that “I can really look forward to celebrating my 48th wedding anniversary with my wife Shirley later this year.”
Since December 8, the UK National Health Service (NHS) has been using a vaccine from Pfizer and the German firm BioNTech to provide health care workers and nursing home residents and their staff. The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine strengthens that arsenal and is cheaper and easier to use because it doesn’t need to be stored at extremely cold temperatures like Pfizer’s.
Oxford AstraZenecas are administered in a small number of UK hospitals for the first few days, so authorities can keep an eye out for any side effects. But hundreds of new vaccination sites – both in hospitals and local doctor’s offices – will begin implementing them this week, joining the more than 700 already operating, the NHS noted.
Contrary to practices in the United States and elsewhere, Britain now plans to give people the second dose of both vaccines 12 weeks after the first injection, instead of 21 days later, to speed up the dose. Immunize as many people as possible as soon as possible.
The government’s deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam said on Sunday that such a decision is “the right choice for the nation as a whole.”
The UK is in the midst of an acute outbreak, with more than 50,000 new coronavirus infections daily in the past six days. On Sunday, it recorded a further 54,990 cases and 454 additional deaths related to the coronavirus, adding 75,024 deaths during the pandemic, one of the highest in Europe.