Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson, wearing a face mask to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, visits a pharmaceutical factory during a visit to northeastern England on February 13, 2021.
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UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due to announce on Monday how and when blocking restrictions will begin to be lifted in England.
Government ministers are expected to discuss details of the “roadmap” to cautiously ease the blockade on Monday morning. The prime minister will then present the proposals to parliament in the late afternoon, before giving a television news conference in the evening.
Johnson is expected to present the latest data on infection rates, hospitalizations and deaths, as well as initial data showing the effectiveness of coronavirus vaccines.
He is also expected to confirm that schools in England will reopen on 8 March and reveal more details about other restrictions that will be lifted.
The government said in a statement that the lifting of the country’s third blockade, in force since the beginning of January, “will seek to balance health, economic and social factors with the latest epidemiological data and recommendations”.
Data, not dates
Johnson has repeatedly said that the relaxation of the measures will be cautious and driven by “data, not dates”. However, he also said that he wants the lifting of restrictions to be “irreversible” as he is under pressure from members of his Conservative Party to reopen the economy.
However, the government maintained that easing should be done in stages to avoid any jump in infection rates.
“Today I will be outlining a roadmap to take us out of the block with caution,” Boris Johnson said in comments released ahead of Monday’s announcement.
“Our priority has always been to bring children back to school, which we know is crucial to their education, as well as their physical and mental well-being, and we will also prioritize ways for people to meet their loved ones safely.”
Patients arrive in ambulances at the Royal London Hospital on January 5, 2021, in London, England. The British Prime Minister delivered a national television speech on Monday evening announcing that England will enter its third blockade of the pandemic covid-19. This week, the UK recorded more than 50,000 new confirmed cases of Covid for the seventh consecutive day.
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“Our 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 and the sacrifices each of you have made to maintain yourself and others are safe,” he added. .
Four main tests
Johnson said the government has defined four key tests that must be met before Britain can move forward with each step of the plan. These are:
- May the vaccine implantation program continue successfully.
- The evidence shows that vaccines are sufficiently effective in reducing hospitalizations and deaths among vaccinees.
- Infection rates do not present the risk of an increase in hospitalizations, which would put unsustainable pressure on the National Health Service.
- That your risk assessment is not fundamentally altered by worrying new variants of the coronavirus.
The government said that as the four tests are being met, the first step in lifting blocking restrictions will take place on March 8. The government has already said that nursing home residents will be able to receive a visitor from that date.
After schools reopened, the government signaled that more measures could be facilitated to allow limited outdoor sports and social activities.
The BBC said on Monday that from March 29, open-air meetings of six people or two families will be allowed, and that outdoor sports facilities, such as tennis or basketball courts, could be reopened. The broadcaster added that “it is also understood that people will once again be able to travel outside their areas – although guidance is likely to still recommend staying there, and overnight stays are not allowed.” It is not known when bars, restaurants and non-essential stores will be able to reopen.
Variants and vaccinations
A positive aspect of the UK’s experience with the pandemic was its response to vaccination. It was the first country in the world to approve a coronavirus vaccine, the candidate for Pfizer and BioNTech, and to launch the vaccine in early December for older members of the population, home workers and health teams and hospitals.
It then approved and started administering the AstraZeneca / University of Oxford vaccine, a cheaper vaccine produced in the UK and easier to transport and store than rival vaccines, allowing it to maintain an enviable rate of immunizations.
Since then, it has expanded the launch to more priority groups, such as those considered clinically vulnerable, and plans to vaccinate all UK adults before the end of July, anticipating this target from September. On Saturday, more than 17.5 million adults received their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, with more than 600,000 having received both doses, according to government data.
The data shows that new infections are falling, with early studies indicating that coronavirus vaccines also help prevent the transmission of the virus, as well as prevent serious illnesses.
In the past seven days, the UK saw 77,432 new cases of coronavirus, a 16.2% drop from the previous weekly count. The number of deaths in the last seven days, 3,414 deaths, is also 27.4% lower than the count of the previous seven days. Hospitalizations are also falling.