LONDON – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson began a national blockade on Monday, ordering the British population to stay home until mid-February, amid a spiraling of infections caused by a new variant of coronavirus.
Starting Monday evening, non-essential schools and shops will close England and people have been told to leave their homes only if necessary.
The imposition of a third national blockade came after heads of government warned that the more contagious strain was spreading rapidly across the country and that some hospitals were at risk of being overwhelmed within three weeks if new restrictions were not put in place.
There are now more Covid-19 patients in British hospitals than at the height of the pandemic in the spring. Mr Johnson said the fight against the virus had reached a critical stage. “It is clear that we need to do more together to bring this new option under control,” he said.
The British government is engaged in a logistics race while trying to vaccinate its population to slow the spread of the virus and protect vulnerable people. The UK has moved faster than other European nations to approve and launch Covid-19 vaccines. To date, more than one million people have received a Covid-19 vaccine shot in the UK