Britain’s
Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks at a press conference in 10
Downing Street, London | Heathcliff O’Malley/Pool via AP (file)
“We are entirely reconciled to do what it takes to get the
virus under control, that may involve tougher measures in the weeks
ahead,” Johnson said in an interview with the BBC. “Obviously
there are a range of tougher measures that we would have to
consider.”
LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned Sunday
that more onerous lockdown restrictions in England are likely as
the country reels from a new coronavirus variant that has pushed
infection rates to their highest recorded levels.
Johnson, though, insisted he has “no doubt” that schools are
safe and urged parents to send their children back into the
classroom in areas of England where they can.
Unions representing teachers have called for schools to turn to
remote learning for at least a couple of weeks more due to the
new variant, which scientists have said is up to 70% more
contagious.
The U.K. is in the midst of an acute outbreak, recording more
than 50,000 new coronavirus infections a day over the past six
days. On Sunday, it notched up another 54,990 cases, down slightly
from the previous day’s a daily record of 57,725. The country
also recorded another 454 virus-related deaths to take the total to
75,024. According to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University,
the U.K. is alternating with Italy as the worst-hit European
nation.
“We are entirely reconciled to do what it takes to get the
virus under control, that may involve tougher measures in the weeks
ahead,” Johnson said in an interview with the BBC. “Obviously
there are a range of tougher measures that we would have to
consider.”
Johnson conceded that school closures, curfews and the total
banning of household mixing could be on the agenda for areas under
the most stress.
London and southeast England are facing extremely high levels of
new infections and there is speculation that restrictions there
will have to be tightened to bring the virus under control. In some
parts of the British capital and its surrounding areas, there are
around 1,000 cases per 100,000 people.
Johnson’s government is using a tiered coronavirus
restrictions system. Most of England is already at the highest Tier
4 level, which involves the closure of shops not selling
nonessential items and places like gyms and recreation centers as
well as a stay-at-home instruction.
“What we are using now is the tiering system, which is a very
tough system, and alas probably about to get tougher to keep things
under control,” he said. “We’ll review it and we have the
prospect of vaccines coming down the tracks in their tens of
millions, offering people literally life and hope.”
The U.K. has moved quickly on the vaccination front. It was the
first to begin vaccinating people over age 80 and health care
workers on Dec. 8 with the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine.
Last week, regulators approved another vaccine made by Oxford
University and pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca that is cheaper
and easier to use than the Pfizer vaccine.
Hundreds of new vaccination sites are due to be up and running
this week as the National Health Service ramps up its immunization
program with the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot. Officials say around
530,000 doses of the new vaccine will be in place Monday as the
country moves towards its goal of vaccinating 2 million people a
week as soon as possible.
“We do hope that we will be able to do tens of millions in the
course of the next three months,” Johnson said.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine will be administered at a small
number of hospitals for the first few days so authorities can be on
the lookout for any adverse reactions. Hundreds of new vaccination
sites — at both hospitals as well as local doctors’ offices —
are due to launch this week, joining the more than 700 already in
operation, NHS England said.
In a shift from practices in the U.S. and elsewhere, Britain
plans to give people second doses of both vaccines within 12 weeks
of the first shot rather than within 21 days, to accelerate
immunizations across as many people as quickly as possible.
“My mum, as well as you or your older loved ones, may be
affected by this decision, but it is still the right thing to do
for the nation as a whole,” the government’s deputy chief
medical officer, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, said in an article for
the Mail on Sunday newspaper.
