COVID-19: UK imposes fresh four-week national lockdown

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday announced a new
month-long lockdown for England after being warned that without
tough action, a resurgent coronavirus outbreak will overwhelm
hospitals in weeks.

On the day the U.K. passed one million confirmed COVID-19 cases,
Johnson made a sudden about-face and confirmed that stringent
restrictions on business and daily life would begin Thursday and
last until Dec. 2.

He said at a televised news conference that “no responsible
prime minister” could ignore the grim figures.

“Unless we act, we could see deaths in this country running at
several thousand a day,” said Johnson, who was hospitalized earlier
this year for a serious case of COVID-19.

Under the new restrictions, bars and restaurants can only offer
takeout, non-essential shops must close and people will only be
able to leave home for a short list of reasons, including exercise.
Activities ranging from haircuts to foreign holidays must once
again be put on hold.

Unlike during Britain’s first lockdown earlier this year,
schools, universities, construction sites and manufacturing
businesses will stay open.

As in other European countries, virus cases in the U.K. began to
climb after lockdown measures were eased in the summer, and people
began to return to workplaces, schools, universities and social
life.

Johnson had hoped a set of regional restrictions introduced
earlier in October would be enough to push numbers down. But
government scientific advisers predict that on the outbreak’s
current trajectory, demand for hospital beds will exceed capacity
by the first week of December, even if temporary hospitals set up
during the first peak of the virus are reopened.

Johnson came under mounting pressure to act as scientists warned
that COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths in the U.K. could soon
surpass the levels seen at the outbreak’s spring peak, when daily
deaths topped 1,000. As European countries such as France, Germany
and Belgium begin imposing a second lockdown amid surging
caseloads, it looked inevitable that Johnson would have to
follow.

London School of Hygiene epidemiologist John Edmunds, a member
of the government’s scientific advisory group, said Saturday that
cases were running “significantly above” a reasonable worst-case
scenario drawn up by modellers.

“It is really unthinkable now, unfortunately, that we don’t
count our deaths in tens of thousands from this wave,” Edmunds told
the BBC. “The issue is, is that going to be low tens of thousands
if we take radical action now or is that going to be the high tens
of thousands if we don’t?”

Official figures announced Saturday recorded 21,915 new cases
confirmed in the last 24 hours, bringing Britain’s total since the
start of the pandemic to 1,011,660. Britain’s official death toll
from the coronavirus is 46,555, the highest in Europe, with 326 new
deaths announced Saturday.

The United States, India, Brazil, Russia, France, Spain,
Argentina and Colombia have also recorded more than one million
cases, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University in
Baltimore. Scientists say the true number of cases is much higher
because not everyone with the virus is tested.

The new measures apply to England. Other parts of the U.K. set
their own public health measures, with Wales and Northern Ireland
already effectively in lockdown and Scotland under a set of tough
regional restrictions.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Saturday that for
now, people in Scotland should not travel to or from England,
“except for essential purposes.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday announced a new
month-long lockdown for England after being warned that without
tough action, a resurgent coronavirus outbreak will overwhelm
hospitals in weeks.

On the day the U.K. passed one million confirmed COVID-19 cases,
Johnson made a sudden about-face and confirmed that stringent
restrictions on business and daily life would begin Thursday and
last until Dec. 2.

He said at a televised news conference that “no responsible
prime minister” could ignore the grim figures.

“Unless we act, we could see deaths in this country running at
several thousand a day,” said Johnson, who was hospitalized earlier
this year for a serious case of COVID-19.

Under the new restrictions, bars and restaurants can only offer
takeout, non-essential shops must close and people will only be
able to leave home for a short list of reasons, including exercise.
Activities ranging from haircuts to foreign holidays must once
again be put on hold.

Unlike during Britain’s first lockdown earlier this year,
schools, universities, construction sites and manufacturing
businesses will stay open.

As in other European countries, virus cases in the U.K. began to
climb after lockdown measures were eased in the summer, and people
began to return to workplaces, schools, universities and social
life.

Johnson had hoped a set of regional restrictions introduced
earlier in October would be enough to push numbers down. But
government scientific advisers predict that on the outbreak’s
current trajectory, demand for hospital beds will exceed capacity
by the first week of December, even if temporary hospitals set up
during the first peak of the virus are reopened.

Johnson came under mounting pressure to act as scientists warned
that COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths in the U.K. could soon
surpass the levels seen at the outbreak’s spring peak, when daily
deaths topped 1,000. As European countries such as France, Germany
and Belgium begin imposing a second lockdown amid surging
caseloads, it looked inevitable that Johnson would have to
follow.

London School of Hygiene epidemiologist John Edmunds, a member
of the government’s scientific advisory group, said Saturday that
cases were running “significantly above” a reasonable worst-case
scenario drawn up by modellers.

“It is really unthinkable now, unfortunately, that we don’t
count our deaths in tens of thousands from this wave,” Edmunds told
the BBC. “The issue is, is that going to be low tens of thousands
if we take radical action now or is that going to be the high tens
of thousands if we don’t?”

Official figures announced Saturday recorded 21,915 new cases
confirmed in the last 24 hours, bringing Britain’s total since the
start of the pandemic to 1,011,660. Britain’s official death toll
from the coronavirus is 46,555, the highest in Europe, with 326 new
deaths announced Saturday.

The United States, India, Brazil, Russia, France, Spain,
Argentina and Colombia have also recorded more than one million
cases, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University in
Baltimore. Scientists say the true number of cases is much higher
because not everyone with the virus is tested.

The new measures apply to England. Other parts of the U.K. set
their own public health measures, with Wales and Northern Ireland
already effectively in lockdown and Scotland under a set of tough
regional restrictions.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Saturday that for
now, people in Scotland should not travel to or from England,
“except for essential purposes.”