The Prime Minister of United Kingdom, Boris Johnson has announced a new national lockdown that will be in place till at least mid-February to fight the fast-spreading newly discovered variant of the coronavirus.
According to the Prime Minister, the move was important because it would help contain the disease variant, even as Britain stepped up its vaccination program by becoming the first country to start using the vaccine manufactured by Oxford University and AstraZeneca.
Johnson said people should stay at home again, as they were urged to do in the first wave of the pandemic in March.
He said: “As I speak to you tonight, our hospitals are under more pressure from COVID than at any time since the start of the pandemic.”
Johnson said “tough, tough” weeks would come in the fight against COVID-19.
Under the new rules, primary schools, secondary schools and colleges will be shut for face to face learning except for the key workers’ children. University students will not go back to school until middle of February.
All nonessential shops and personal care services will be closed while restaurants can operate takeout services only.
