As England reentered the blockade on Tuesday, new figures showed that one in 50 people had recently been infected with the virus, and officials warned that some restrictions on daily life may still be necessary next winter.
Speaking at a news conference, Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised to focus the government’s efforts on implementing its tense mass vaccination program with the aim of preventing an increase in infections from a highly transmissible variant of the virus from straining the health service. .
With more than a million confirmed cases in the week ending January 2, or 2% of England’s population, Britain is in a race against time to distribute vaccines.
Johnson was speaking on a day when the government said more than 60,000 new cases were registered for the first time. Beside him, Professor Chris Whitty, England’s medical director, said the number of daily deaths, now averaging around 530, is expected to rise and that if people do not observe a blockade order to stay home, the risk will be “extraordinarily high.”
He also warned that the British may face some restrictions in the future.
“We may have to bring some, next winter, for example – this is possible – because winter will benefit the virus,” said Professor Whitty.
Johnson said that 1.3 million people have already been vaccinated and that he hopes that the most vulnerable, a group that includes the elderly and about 13 million, can be protected by the vaccine in about six weeks, turning the tide in the battle against HIV. virus.
“We in the government are using every second of this block to put this invisible shield around the elderly and vulnerable in the form of vaccines,” he said.
Mr Johnson said that England would be blocked until vaccinations reached the four most vulnerable groups: residents of nursing homes and those who care for them, all over the age of 70, all health and social care professionals in the ahead and everyone who is clinically extremely vulnerable.
“If we manage to vaccinate all of these groups, we will have removed a large number of people from the path of the virus,” he said.
That goal, he added, can be achieved in mid-February.
But for that, the pace of vaccinations will need to increase dramatically.
The four groups that the prime minister cited include 13.9 million people in England, according to Nadhim Zahawi, the minister who oversees the vaccine effort.
Since the campaign started on December 8, less than 800,000 people in England had been vaccinated by December 27, the last date on which data were available.
But with the introduction on Monday of the first doses of a vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca – injections that are easier to transport and do not need to be stored at very low temperatures – British officials said the campaign can now be accelerated above.
To meet Johnson’s goal, about two million doses need to be administered every week.
Johnson also said he was planning a new system to ensure that those traveling to Britain have a negative coronavirus test before arrival. But he was forced to defend himself against accusations that he acted too slowly to order the blockade and showed a lack of judgment by insisting over the weekend that many schools in England should reopen after the winter holiday on Monday – just to reverse that. decision on Monday night.