British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned he could tighten up the coronavirus blocking if people don’t follow the rules, as his government supported tougher enforcement.
Any “complacency” about the disease is misplaced, Johnson said, even though an immunization program is underway and 2.2 million people have been injected so far.
But he risked undermining his own appeal to the public to stay home and act responsibly when it emerged that he had taken a seven-mile bike ride through London on Sunday.
‘Of course, if we do to feel that things are not being properly enforced, we may have to do more, ”Johnson said Monday during a visit to a vaccination center at a sports stadium in Bristol, South West England. The introduction of the vaccine is a “race against time,” with the country at a “very dangerous time” as infection rates soar, he said.
Britain is facing its worst period of the pandemic, with hospital admissions up 22% in a week to over 32,000 and the death toll now over 80,000. Last week, Johnson announced a third national lockdown, a move that threatens to push the UK into a new recession and exacerbate the damage from the first lockdown, which caused the deepest contraction in 300 years.
The vaccination program is key to the economic recovery, Finance Minister Rishi Sunak told lawmakers on Monday.
The government is aiming to ease restrictions beyond Feb. 15, the target date by which Johnson wants all 15 million of the most vulnerable people and their caregivers to receive at least one dose of immunization.
While Britain is far ahead of other European countries in the introduction of vaccines, a new, more contagious variant of the disease is pushing healthcare to a breaking point. Medical advisers and officials are increasingly concerned that the public is not following the rules and that hospitals will soon be overwhelmed.
Bicycle tour
Johnson said lockdown rules must be properly enforced in food stores and urged people to think carefully before leaving home for any reason. Hospitals are under a lot of pressure from a rise in the number of Covid-19 cases, with oxygen supplies running out in some areas, he said.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said everyone shares a responsibility to ensure the rules are followed and praised retailer Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc for saying it will deny entry to anyone who does not wear a mask without a specific exemption.
“I am very happy that the police are stepping up their enforcement, but it is not just about the government and the rules we set, or the police and the work they do, it is about how everyone behaves,” he said. press conference. . “I welcome the action that Morrisons has taken today,” he said. “That’s the right approach.”
The prime minister’s office was questioned about his own action after London’s Evening Standard reported that Johnson had been seen cycling around the Olympic Park, 11 kilometers east of his official residence, on Sunday at around 2 p.m. Official government guidelines allow people to leave their homes to exercise, but advise people to stay in their “local neighborhood”.
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Hancock said long bike rides and 7-mile hikes are allowed by the rules.
But the episode threatens to spark a falling out over the behavior of Johnson’s former assistant Dominic Cummings, who was accused last spring of breaking lockdown rules by driving more than 400 kilometers outside of London when the country was told to stay home. . Johnson’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on his trip.
In other developments:
- Sunak warned that the country’s third lockdown, which began last week, means “the economy will get worse before it gets better”
- The NHS said the full impact of relaxing the rules over Christmas is still not seen in the case’s rates
- 40% of people over 80 have had at least one vaccination, with a total of 2.6 million injections so far
- The government published its vaccine delivery plan, pledging to vaccinate tens of millions of people by spring, with “at least” 2 million injections per week at more than 2,700 vaccination sites in the UK.
– With the help of Stuart Biggs, Alex Morales, Joe Mayes and Deirdre Hipwell