LONDON (Reuters) – Britain began its third COVID-19 blockade on Tuesday with the government calling for a last major national effort to defeat the spread of a virus that infected about one in 50 citizens before vaccinations in mass change the tide.
Finance Minister Rishi Sunak announced a new 4.6 billion pounds ($ 6.2 billion) business subsidy package to help keep people in jobs and businesses afloat until measures are relaxed gradually, at least from mid-February, but probably later.
Britain is among the countries hardest hit by COVID-19, with the second highest number of deaths in Europe and an economy that suffered the sharpest contraction from the Group of Seven during the first wave of infections last spring.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the latest data shows that 2% of the population is infected – more than a million people in England.
“When everyone looks at the position, people understand that we have no choice,” he said at a news conference.
More than 1.3 million people in Britain have already received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccination, but that is still not enough to impact transmission.
Johnson announced the new block on Monday night, saying that the new, highly contagious coronavirus variant, first identified in Britain, was spreading so fast that the National Health Service was in danger of being overwhelmed by 21 days.
In England alone, some 27,000 people are hospitalized with COVID, 40% more than during the first peak in April, with the expectation that the number of infections will increase further after the increase in socialization during the Christmas period.
Since the start of the pandemic, more than 75,000 people have died in the UK in 28 days after the test was positive for coronavirus, according to official data. The number of new daily infections exceeded 60,000 for the first time on Tuesday.
A Savanta-ComRes survey conducted shortly after Johnson’s speech suggested that four out of five adults in England supported the blockade.
“I definitely think it was the right decision to make,” said London-based Kaitlin Colucci, 28. “I just hope that everyone doesn’t struggle too hard to stay inside the house again.”
Downing Street said Johnson canceled a visit to India later this month to focus on responding to the virus, and Buckingham Palace canceled its traditional summer garden parties this year.
VACCINATIONS ARE FUNDAMENTAL
According to the new rules in England, schools are closed to most students, people should work from home if possible, and all hospitality and non-essential stores are closed. Semi-autonomous executives in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have imposed similar measures.
As infection rates soar in Europe, other countries are also restricting public life. Germany is expected to extend its strict block until the end of the month, and Italy will maintain national restrictions in place this weekend, while relaxing the brakes on weekdays.
Sunak’s latest grant package adds to the impressive £ 280 billion in support of the UK government already announced for this financial year to prevent total economic collapse.
The new blockade is likely to cause the economy to shrink again, although not as much as during the first blockade last spring. JP Morgan economist Allan Monks said he expected the economy to shrink 2.5% in the first quarter of 2021 – compared to almost 20% in the second quarter of 2020.
To end the lockdown cycle, the government is betting on vaccines. Its goal is to vaccinate all nursing home residents and their caregivers, all people over 70, all frontline health and social care professionals and all who are clinically extremely vulnerable in mid-February. .
But Minister Michael Gove called for caution in terms of when this could translate into easing restrictions.
“We will be able to review the progress we made on February 15th … and we hope to be able to gradually remove restrictions after that, but what I can’t do is predict, nobody can accurately predict what we will be able to relax and when” , he told Sky News.
($ 1 = 0.7371 pounds)
Additional reporting by Sarah Young, Michael Holden, Andy Bruce, William Schomberg, Ben Makori and William James; written by Estelle Shirbon; edition by Guy Faulconbridge, Raissa Kasolowsky and Jonathan Oatis