{"id":107057,"date":"2021-01-04T12:23:50","date_gmt":"2021-01-04T12:23:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/?p=107057"},"modified":"2021-01-04T12:23:50","modified_gmt":"2021-01-04T12:23:50","slug":"johnson-faces-third-lockdown-as-virus-surges-across-u-k","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/politics\/johnson-faces-third-lockdown-as-virus-surges-across-u-k\/","title":{"rendered":"Johnson Faces Third Lockdown as Virus Surges Across U.K."},"content":{"rendered":"

Sign up here for our daily coronavirus newsletter on what you need to know, and subscribe to our Covid-19 podcast for the latest news and analysis.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Boris Johnson\u2019s government is on the brink of another pandemic U-turn with a third national lockdown looking increasingly inevitable.<\/p>\n

A surge in infections threatens to overwhelm hospitals and throws his plan to get English children back into classrooms into disarray on a day the British prime minister had hoped to celebrate the delivery of the first shots of a Covid-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca Plc.<\/p>\n

Instead the government is back in crisis mode, with new virus cases exceeding 50,000 a day and hospital admissions soaring past the peak of the first wave in April. Johnson, who ended the year on a high by securing a last-minute trade deal with the European Union, on Monday warned that a \u201csurging epidemic\u201d means stricter rules are coming.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at the numbers there\u2019s no question we\u2019re going to have to take tougher measures and we will be announcing those in due course,\u201d Johnson said Monday in a pooled TV interview. \u201cWe will do everything we can to keep the virus under control.\u201d<\/p>\n

Health Secretary Matt Hancock laid the groundwork during his Monday media round, warning that the old system of regional tiers is \u201cno longer strong enough\u201d and that there were would be \u201csome very difficult weeks ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a far cry from the government\u2019s optimism in early December, when the arrival of vaccines was dubbed the \u201cscientific cavalry\u201d to the rescue. The picture changed dramatically when the emergence of a faster spreading strain of Covid-19 led to the introduction of a stricter fourth tier that shut down non-essential shops and hammered retailers reliant on Christmas shoppers.<\/p>\n

School Dilemma<\/h3>\n

By the end of 2020, about 75% of England\u2019s population was covered by the highest tier — which effectively mirror the conditions of the country\u2019s second lockdown in November.<\/p>\n

In that shutdown, schools remained open, reflecting the government\u2019s promise to keep in-person classes going. On Monday, Johnson gave mixed messages on schools, saying that while they are safe to open, \u201call measures\u201d are \u201cunder review\u201d because of the role they play in spreading the virus.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe issue is the extent to which the mingling of kids in schools by putting lots of households together cause the epidemic to spread even faster,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cWe\u2019ll have to look very hard at what we do with secondary schools later on in the month.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the meantime, many schools have openly defied orders to open. Opposition Labour Party Leader Keir Starmer said the country should immediately return to a full lockdown, and unions on Monday called for employers to offer parents paid time off to cope with childcare if schools remain closed.<\/p>\n

Wider Lockdown<\/h3>\n

In the short-term, Hancock suggested the first move may be to move areas currently in England\u2019s tier 3 into the strictest rules.<\/p>\n

Throughout the pandemic, the government has been forced to backtrack on efforts to reopen the economy, especially as the virus\u2019s winter resurgence pushes public health services to the brink. Most recently, Johnson was forced to curtail plans to relax social-distancing rules over Christmas.<\/p>\n

But tougher restrictions are likely to cause Johnson more trouble with his own Conservative Party, member of whom oppose any action that would further damage the economy.<\/p>\n

For the government, much will now depend on fast the National Health Service can administer vaccine doses. Johnson said there is a \u201cmassive ramping up operation\u201d now going on to vaccinate the U.K. population, promising that \u201ctens of millions\u201d of doses will have been delivered by the end of March.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cavalry is here,\u201d Hancock told LBC radio. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to all do our bit for the next few weeks and then we\u2019re going to be through it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 With assistance by Emily Ashton, Brian Swint, and Lynn Thomasson<\/em><\/p>\n

Source: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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