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More than three quarters of the English population will enter in 2021 and will be asked to ‘stay at home’, with the reopening of schools also being delayed in the most affected areas, as the government fights to contain the new variant of the coronavirus.
Boris Johnson warned the public that it was time to “step up efforts” against the virus on Wednesday, as the government used a sitting day in the House of Commons to announce a series of tough new measures, including plunging many other areas in level 4.
Amid criticism of the government’s fractured approach to the start of the new school term and renewed calls for a nationwide lockdown, the prime minister said: “No one regrets these measures more bitterly than I do. But we must take firm action now. “
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This came as the UK reported 981 more Covid-related deaths, the highest daily toll since April, and 50,023 more infections in the past 24 hours, as the NHS risked being overwhelmed in most affected areas. The sharp increase in deaths may be partly due to a delay in reporting during the Christmas period.
At a press briefing in Downing Street, the government’s deputy medical adviser Jonathan Van Tam took a grim note – and stressed that the impact of the additional infections that would result from the Christmas mix had yet to come. made felt.
“Unfortunately, it’s a pretty dark and depressing picture at the moment. The situation in the UK is precarious in many parts of the country, ”he said.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has announced a dramatic tightening of restrictions, with an additional 21 million people entering Level 4 – under which the public is urged to stay home and non-essential retail services and close contact such as hairdressers are closed.
Tier 4 was introduced just 10 days ago, as the government hastily curtailed ‘Christmas bubble’ plans from five days to days remaining.
It initially covered London and the South East, where the new variant of the virus first appeared. But Hancock announced on Wednesday that all of north-east England, Greater Manchester, much of the Midlands and the south-west would move to the more stringent Level 4 rules from Thursday morning.
This ‘stay at home’ area will now cover 78% of England’s population – and a series of other areas will be upgraded from level 2 to level 3. All of mainland Scotland, Wales and Scotland. Northern Ireland is already subject to the strictest restrictions.
Many local leaders were surprised at the scale of the change on Wednesday. Leaders in north-east England have called for a national lockdown to curb the spread of the disease and focus efforts on rolling out two vaccines. “It is a national problem and a national solution is needed now,” they said.
Johnson admitted the government had discussed the option of a nationwide lockdown, but rejected it. “This was obviously an option that we considered intensively,” he said, but given the uncertainties about the effectiveness of the level 4 measures to control the new variant, “we thought it was just to continue prioritizing, ”he said.
But he added: “We will continue to review this, for all regions of the country.”
Hancock was immediately followed to the House of Commons by Education Secretary Gavin Williamson, who announced that secondary schools across England would be closed to almost all students for the first two weeks of the term. Children of key workers and vulnerable children will be allowed to attend and those in exam years 11 and 13 will return after one week.
Williamson also said elementary schools would remain closed to most students – initially for an additional fortnight – in some areas, but was unable to specify what they would be, which resulted in left parents bewildered looking for clarification on the government website.
The Department of Education later published a list of the affected areas, which includes most of London’s boroughs and significant parts of Essex and Kent.
This disparate approach to reopening schools follows a scuffle between cabinet ministers, including Williamson, who wanted to keep schools open, and others, including Hancock and Cabinet minister Michael Gove, who wanted to be more careful .
Williamson stressed that the “vast majority” of elementary schools would reopen as scheduled on January 4.
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London Mayor Sadiq Khan asked why some London boroughs are being told to reopen primary schools and others to keep them closed. “It will be very confusing for parents that some primary schools are open and others are not,” he said.
The number of Covid patients in English hospitals surpassed the peak of the first wave on Sunday, with 23,771 people hospitalized with the disease on Wednesday and the number is expected to rise further as cases increase.
As of Tuesday, cases reached an all-time high, with 53,135 reported in the UK. The Covid variant discovered earlier this month accounted for the majority of all new cases in London, south-east and east England, Hancock said on Wednesday.
Areas moved to level 4 include all of the Midlands except Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin and Rutland, all of which will be level 3. In the north west, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen, Cheshire, Warrington and Cumbria will be in tier 4. Liverpool will move up to tier 3.
In the South West, Gloucestershire, Swindon, Somerset, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole will be at level 4, while the rest of the region – including Cornwall, Devon and Dorset – will be moved to level 3.
Hancock told the House of Commons that Wednesday was “a day of mixed emotions” due to the announcement of the new restrictions hours after the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine was approved by the UK medical regulator.
He told MPs: “This brings us to the day when we can lift the restrictions that no one in this house wants to see longer than absolutely necessary. But we have to act to remove the virus now, not least because the new variant makes the time between now and then even more difficult.
“And so, while we have the good news about the vaccine today, we also have to make some tough decisions.”
Hancock said he knew the measures would place a significant burden on businesses and livelihoods, but it was “absolutely necessary due to the number of cases we have seen”.
Andy Street, the Conservative West Midlands mayor, said Level 3 rules had failed to stop an increase in the number of cases in the region. He said he would continue to press the Treasury for more financial support for business, adding, “I will continue to advocate vehemently to the government and I will not give in until we achieve a breakthrough. ” Ee
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