(4 Jan 2021) Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Monday a new national lockdown for England until at least mid-February to combat a fast-spreading new variant of the coronavirus.
In a televised address, Johnson said people must stay at home again, as they were ordered to do so in the first wave of the pandemic in March, this time because the new virus variant was spreading in a "frustrating and alarming” way.
“As I speak to you tonight, our hospitals are under more pressure from COVID than at any time since the start of the pandemic,” he said.
Under the new rules, which are set to come into effect as soon as possible, primary and secondary schools and colleges will be closed for face to face learning, except for the children of key workers, and university students will not be returning until at least mid-February.
All non-essential shops and personal care services like hairdressers are to close, and restaurants can only operate takeout services.
The new lockdown comes even as Britain ramped up its vaccination programme by becoming the first nation to start using the shot developed by Oxford University and drugmaker AstraZeneca.
The UK has seen an alarming surge in coronavirus cases in recent weeks as public health officials struggle to control the spread of a new variant of COVID-19 that is more contagious than previous variants.
Authorities have recorded more than 50,000 new infections a day since passing that milestone for the first time on 29 December.
On Monday, they reported 407 virus-related deaths to push the confirmed death toll total to 75,431, one of the worst in Europe.
As of 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.
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