England 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.
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.
Primary and secondary schools and colleges will be closed from Tuesday for face to face learning except for the children of key workers and vulnerable pupils. University students will not be returning until at least mid-February. People were told to work from home unless it’s impossible to do so, and leave home only for essential trips.
All nonessential shops and personal care services like hairdressers will be closed, and restaurants can only operate takeout services.
There were 26,626 COVID-19 patients in hospitals in England, an increase of more than 30% from a week ago.
Large areas of England were already under tight restrictions as officials try to control an alarming surge in coronavirus cases in recent weeks, blamed on a new variant of COVID-19 that is more contagious than existing variants.
The U.K.’s chief medical officers warned that without further action, “There is a material risk of the National Health Service in several areas being overwhelmed over the next 21 days.”
On the other hand, the UK government has confirmed that film and TV production will be able to continue during the upcoming national lockdown.
The situation is very serious & we must act
For sport this means:
Only exercising at home or with our household/bubble outdoors
Professional sport behind closed doors can continue as a place of work
Other sports activity regrettably must be paused https://t.co/YSfuGVyvHX
— Oliver Dowden (@OliverDowden) January 4, 2021