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Summary
- England has gone into a new and tougher, complete stay-at-home lockdown after the four-tier system
- The new restriction measures will be constantly reviewed every two weeks. The first review is on 20 January
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his cabinet had taken a huge risk after deciding to announce the third lockdown on Wednesday (6 January) owing to the spike in coronavirus cases in the country.
The step was taken because of the new variant of the Covid-19 virus and failure of the previous restrictions adopted to curb the spread. The new variant is said to be 70 per cent more transmissible than the previous one. The rising cases of the deadly coronavirus cases saw England moving into the third phase of complete stay-at-home national lockdown restrictions by replacing the four-tier system that had come into effect in late December.
The new rules were announced by Johnson last Monday (4 January), but were enforced two days later after it was voted in the House of Commons. The legislation on the new restrictions will last until 31 March.
(Image source: ©Kalkine Group 2020)
What are provisions for the new lockdown
Under the new measures, Britons are only allowed to leave their homes for certain specific reasons, which includes shopping for essential items, going to work, or for providing voluntary or charitable services and for seeking medical assistance.
A person cannot leave his home to meet someone socially if he is not in a support bubble with.
One can exercise on their own or with one other person, which should be limited to once a day. Nobody can travel outside his local area.
Children studying in primary and secondary schools and colleges will learn remotely until February half term. However, they will remain open only for vulnerable children and the children of critical workers.
Related Read: England and Scotland: What are the new lockdown rules?
When is the new lockdown expected to be lifted?
The Prime Minister had announced that the latest lockdown might be lifted by the middle of February 2021. He had said if things go well, it is estimated that the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine will be given to everyone in the first four groups that had been identified by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.
He also added that there are hopes for the number of deaths and cases to fall with the vaccination programme. However, he has asked everyone to remain cautious about the timetable ahead.
When will it be reviewed?
The UK has been able to authorise three vaccines for its citizens in just a month. The first vaccine of Pfizer and BioNTech was rolled out on 8 December, followed by AstraZeneca’s on 4 January. Moderna’s jab has also received the regulatory authorisation last week. As the PM said that the lockdown rules would be reviewed every two weeks, the first review will be on 20 January, followed by the second on 3 February.
Johnson said that the current restrictions would be kept under constant review with a statutory requirement to review every two weeks and a legal obligation to remove them if they are no longer needed.
Are the Covid-19 cases going up?
The new mutation of coronavirus strain is spreading rapidly across the nation and already accounts for more than a large number of new infections in London and parts of England. Covid-19 cases continue to increase at an alarming rate, recording a daily rise of 54,940 positive cases. The death toll was reported of 563 as on 10 January.
