Prime Minister Boris Johnson has addressed the nation for the fourth time in 10 months, after a rapid rise in the number of coronavirus cases in the UK. The Prime Minister explained that the new strain of the virus has forced his hand, and that we will be going into a third national lockdown.
The UK has seen rising infection numbers of coronavirus over the past few weeks, ahead of Johnson’s announcement.
The NHS’s ability to handle such a vast number of Covid patients has come into question, and the UK’s four Chief Medical Officers agreed to raise to the Covid Alert Level from 4 to 5 on Monday evening.
The Prime Minister has been forced into announcing new, tougher restrictions again, despite the UK coming out of lockdown just one month ago.
The new measures will come into force on Wednesday January 5, Johnson confirmed.
Is the UK going into full lockdown?
Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed on Monday evening that he was launching a new national lockdown.
The lockdown will be starting from Wednesday January 5, at 00.01am.
The UK had managed to contain the virus, up until the end of December, he explained.
But, after the introduction of the second Covid variant, which was first highlighted a few days before Christmas Day, his hand was ultimately forced into action.
“As I speak to you tonight, our hospitals are under more pressure from Covid than at any time since the start of the pandemic,” said Johnson.
“You may only leave home for limited reasons permitted in law, such as to shop for essentials, to work if you absolutely cannot work from home, to exercise, to seek medical assistance such as getting a Covid test, or to escape domestic abuse.”
More to follow…
