Johnson will tell the House of Commons on Monday afternoon that, starting on March 8, schools will finally reopen across England, as well as some very limited return on social interaction outdoors, including sitting on a bench. park and have a coffee, which is currently not allowed.
The prime minister will also announce that from March 29, when schools start the Easter holiday, further restrictions on social interactions will be lifted, allowing groups of six to gather outdoors and entire families to socialize. Downing Street placed special emphasis on the desire to give something to elderly and vulnerable people, now vaccinated, who have been kept away from their families for almost a year.
Downing Street emphasized that these are planned measures and, if Covid-19’s situation worsens in England, they can be pushed back and the country kept confined.
The news comes as the vaccine launch in the UK continues to lead the rest of Europe, while scientific research indicates that vaccinations reduce the risk of hospitalization by up to 94%.
Scientists at the University of Edinburgh, University of Strathclyde and Public Health Scotland examined data from people who received the first dose of the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine. The data showed that four weeks after the injection, the risk of being admitted to hospitals was reduced by up to 85% and 94%, respectively, according to the UK news agency PA Media. On Monday morning, the UK administered the first doses to 17.5 million people, while the speed of vaccination is increasing.
Monday’s announcement by the prime minister will mark the first step on a four-step path out of the blockade. Johnson will tell lawmakers later that his government’s decisions “will be made based on the latest data at each stage, and we will be cautious about this approach so as not to undo the progress we have made so far.”
The speed with which the country will come out of the blockade will be compared to four main tests: how is the vaccine implantation going? how vaccines are affecting hospitalizations and deaths; infection rates remain low; new variants without prejudice to the other three tests.
Johnson will say that his priority “has always been to bring children back to school, which we know is crucial for their education, as well as for their physical and mental well-being, and we will also prioritize ways for people to meet with their loved ones”.
It is possible that his cautious approach and focus on schools and families, rather than the economy, drew criticism from several of his conservative defenders who have been pushing for a faster exit from the blockade since the summer. At the time, infection rates dropped and government sources told CNN at the time that priorities had shifted from containing the spread to reopening the hospitality industry. With the end of the summer months, infections returned and the virus mutated, requiring urgent action to stem the spread.