British Prime Minister announces new national lockdown for England

British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has announced a new national lockdown for England until at least mid-February to combat a fast-spreading new variant of the coronavirus.

Johnson says people must stay at home as they were ordered in the first wave of the pandemic in March last year, and this time again because the new virus variant was spreading in a “frustrating and alarming” way.

Authorities have recorded more than 50,000 new infections a day and on Monday, they reported 407 virus-related deaths to push the confirmed death toll total to 75,431, one of the worst in Europe.

Under the new rules, people can go out for exercise but can only meet one person from another family, and schools will remain closed until February except for children of key workers and those in social care.

This lockdown is set to come into effect even though Britain ramped up its vaccination programme by becoming the first nation to start using the shot developed by Oxford University and drugmaker AstraZeneca.

[Source: Stuff.co.nz]