LONDON (AP) – Children in England are returning to class and in two weeks, people can meet a friend outside for coffee, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Monday as he outlined a slow relaxation of one of Europe’s toughest pandemic exclusions. .
But those longing for a haircut, a meal at a restaurant, or a beer in a pub have nearly two months to wait, and people won’t be able to hug loved ones they don’t live with until May at the earliest.
Johnson said the government’s plan would bring the country out of lockdown “gently but irreversibly”.
“We are moving towards what I hope is a one-way street to freedom,” he told lawmakers in the House of Commons.
Britain has had the deadliest coronavirus outbreak in Europe, killing more than 120,000. Faced with a dominant virus variant that scientists say is both more transmissible and more deadly than the original virus, the country has spent much of the winter under tight lockdown – the third since March 2020. Bars, restaurants, gyms, schools, hair salons and non-essential shops are closed, people are urged not to leave their surroundings and foreign holidays are illegal.
That will slowly start to change on March 8, when kids return to school and people get to meet a friend or family member for a chat or picnic outdoors. Three weeks later, people can meet in small groups outside for sports or relaxation.
According to the government’s plan, shops and hairdressers will reopen on April 12. This also applies to pubs and restaurants, but only outdoors. Indoor venues such as theaters and cinemas, and indoor seating in bars and restaurants, are scheduled for May 17, and limited audiences will be able to return to sports stadiums. It is also the earliest date that Britons are allowed to have foreign holidays.
The final phase of the plan, in which all legal restrictions on social contact are lifted and nightclubs can reopen after 15 months of closure, is scheduled for June 21.
The government says the dates could all be delayed if infections increase.
The announced measures apply to England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all have a slightly different lockdown with some children returning to classes in Scotland and Wales on Monday.
The hope of a return to normalcy rests largely on Britain’s fast-moving vaccination program that has given more than 17.5 million people, one-third of the country’s adult population, the first of two doses of vaccine. The government is aiming to give every adult a vaccination syringe by July 31.
Johnson said vaccines would help Britain leave it “a miserable year”.
But the government warns that the return of the country’s social and economic life will be slow. Johnson’s conservative government has been accused of reopening the country too soon after the first lockdown in the spring and of rejecting scientific advice for a brief “circuit-breaker” lockdown in the fall.
It doesn’t want to make the same mistakes again, although Johnson is under pressure from some conservative lawmakers and business owners, who argue that the restrictions must be lifted quickly to revive the battered economy.
The Conservative government – in normal times opposed to excessive government spending – spent £ 280 billion ($ 393 billion) in 2020 to deal with the pandemic, including billions paying the salaries of nearly 10 million workers on leave.
UK Chambers of Commerce Director General Adam Marshall welcomed “clarity” on the reopening dates, but said that “the future of thousands of companies and millions of jobs is still hanging by a thread”.
Johnson said the government’s annual budget statement on March 3 would include new measures “to protect jobs and livelihoods in the UK”
The government says further easing will depend on vaccines proving to be effective in reducing hospitalizations and deaths, infection rates remain low, and no new virus variants appearing to confuse plans.
Two UK studies released Monday showed that COVID-19 vaccination programs are contributing to a sharp drop in disease and hospital admissions, raising hopes that the real world shots will work as well as in carefully controlled studies .
Preliminary results from a study in Scotland showed that the Pfizer vaccine reduced hospitalizations by as much as 85% four weeks after the first dose, while the AstraZeneca injection reduced the number of admissions by 94%. In England, preliminary data from a study of health professionals showed that the Pfizer vaccine reduced the risk of COVID-19 by 70% after one dose, a figure that rose to 85% after the second dose.
Scientists stressed that the results were preliminary.
Johnson said that even with vaccines, reopening society would inevitably lead to more infections and deaths.
He said there is “no credible route to a zero-COVID Britain, or even a zero-COVID world.”
But, he added, “we cannot go on indefinitely with restrictions that weaken our economy, our physical and mental well-being, and the life chances of our children.”
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