LONDON (Reuters) – Britain began its third COVID-19 lockdown on Tuesday, with the government calling for a last major national effort to stop the spread of a virus estimated to have infected one in 50 civilians before massive vaccinations are turning the tide.
Treasury Secretary Rishi Sunak announced a new package of business grants worth £ 4.6 billion ($ 6.2 billion) to keep people in work and businesses afloat until measures are gradually relaxed, starting at half past twelve at the earliest. February but probably later.
Britain is one of the countries hardest hit by COVID-19, with the second highest death toll in Europe and an economy that contracted the most in the Group of Seven during the first wave of infections last spring ago.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the latest data showed that 2% of the population is currently infected – more than a million people in England.
“When everyone looks at the position, people overwhelmingly understand that we have no choice,” he told a news conference.
More than 1.3 million people in Britain have already received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccination, but this is still not enough to affect transmission.
Johnson announced the new lockdown late Monday, saying that the highly contagious new coronavirus variant first identified in Britain was spreading so quickly that within 21 days the National Health Service was at risk of being overwhelmed.
In England alone, about 27,000 people with COVID are in hospital, 40% more than during the first peak in April, and the number of infections is expected to increase further after more social contacts over the Christmas period.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, more than 75,000 people in the UK have died within 28 days of a positive test for coronavirus, according to official figures. The number of new infections daily rose above 60,000 for the first time on Tuesday.
A Savanta-ComRes poll conducted just after Johnson’s address suggested that four out of five adults in England supported the lockdown.
“I absolutely think it was the right decision to make,” said 28-year-old Londoner Kaitlin Colucci. “I just hope that everyone does not have too much trouble with having to be back in.”
Downing Street said Johnson canceled a visit to India later this month to focus on the response to the virus, and Buckingham Palace has halted its traditional summer garden parties this year.
VACCINATIONS ARE THE KEY
Under the new rules in England, schools are closed to most students, people have to work from home if possible and all catering and non-essential shops are closed. Semi-autonomous executives in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have imposed similar measures.
With infection rates rising across Europe, other countries are also taking hold of public life. Germany will extend its strict lockdown until the end of the month, and Italy will enforce nationwide restrictions this weekend and ease curbs on weekdays.
Sunak’s latest grant package adds to the eye-watering £ 280 billion in UK government aid that has already been announced for this financial year to avoid a total economic meltdown.
The new lockdown will likely cause the economy to contract again, but not as much as during the first lockdown last spring. JP Morgan economist Allan Monks said he expected the economy to contract by 2.5% in the first quarter of 2021 – compared to nearly 20% in the second quarter of 2020.
To end the lockdown cycle, the government is pinning its hopes on vaccines. The goal is to vaccinate all retirement home residents and their carers, anyone over the age of 70, all primary health and social workers, and anyone clinically extremely vulnerable by mid-February.
But senior minister Michael Gove urged caution in terms of when that could translate into a relaxation of restrictions.
“We will be able to assess the progress we have made on February 15th … and we hope that after that we can gradually lift the restrictions, but what I cannot do is predict, no one can accurately predict what we will be able to relax and when, He said on Sky News.
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Additional reporting by Sarah Young, Michael Holden, Andy Bruce, William Schomberg, Ben Makori, and William James; written by Estelle Shirbon; edited by Guy Faulconbridge, Raissa Kasolowsky and Jonathan Oatis