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More than 1 million people in England now have coronavirus, the British government said, as doctors struggle to vaccinate the most vulnerable against the rapidly spreading disease.
Rocket Case rates of the new strain of the virus mean that one in 50 people in England now has Covid-19, while in London one in 30 is infected, official survey results show.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson revealed the statistics while promising to speed up the government’s vaccination program to finally remove the latest deadlock. He said that 23% of all over 80s in England have now received a dose of Covid-19 vaccine, which means that some of those most at risk are starting to receive the protection they need.
Johnson stressed his promise to vaccinate nearly 14 million people at highest risk and caregivers by mid-February. He said 1.3 million people in the UK had already received the first of the two photos.
But he said there could be many more months of restrictions ahead, saying current plans to end England’s national blockade in mid-February are subject to “many warnings, lots of problems”. England Medical Director Chris Whitty said the measures could be implemented next winter, adding: “We shouldn’t beautify, this will disappear with spring.”
Invisible shield
The prime minister spoke at a press conference on Tuesday, a day after he put the country in the third national blockade since the beginning of the pandemic. The rest of Europe is also spinning under the pressure of an invigorating pandemic, with Germany is struggling with high infection rates and is having difficulty launching vaccines.
Britain’s new national restrictions threaten to push the economy into a double recession, prompting the Johnson administration to announce another package of emergency support for companies worth more than £ 4.6 billion ($ 6.2 billion).
“You all want to make sure that we in the government now use every second of this blockade to put the invisible shield around the elderly and the vulnerable in the form of vaccination, and thus start ending this crisis.” Johnson said. “It simply came to our notice then. It is the largest vaccination program in the history of this country. “
Read more about the latest Treasury aid package.
He defended his decision to order the country to stay home again and showed the latest figures for the infection. record levels of coronavirus in the population. “The number of patients in hospitals in England is now 40% higher than at the first peak in April,” he said. “When everyone looks at the position, people understand overwhelmingly that we have no choice.”
The figure of one in 50 infected people is an estimate based on a mass test survey that aims to find people who have infections but no symptoms. It is significantly higher than the infection rate involved by national totals in all positive test results, which rely mostly on people to perform tests when they show symptoms.
Passenger testing
British officials are in talks on what is needed to protect Britain from the pandemic, including potential new restrictions on ports and airports for non-essential travel. At the news conference, Johnson said a new testing regime will be introduced. “We will take steps to ensure that we test people entering this country and to prevent the readmission of the virus,” he said.
The blockade followed warnings from government health advisers that the National Health Service they could be overwhelmed in the next three weeks if no urgent action is taken.
At Tuesday’s press conference, Whitty said that “the hope“The new blockade will be enough to bring the pandemic under control. “If people follow these rules very strongly and at the same time the NHS vaccinates as soon as it can, then the hope is the lock will suffice. But we all have to do that. “
– With the assistance of Joe Mayes, Stuart Biggs, Emily Ashton and David Goodman