England announces new lockdown

[Gimme More 35,802]

Boris Johnson has announced a new national lockdown for England - with people instructed to "stay at home" as they did during March's first lockdown.

The prime minister revealed the action in an eight-minute TV address on Monday night, after being told that COVID-19 cases are rising rapidly in every part of the country due to the new coronavirus variant.

The public are being asked to follow the new rules, which replace the tiers system, from this evening.

It is expected the new lockdown in England - the third time a national shutdown has been introduced - will last until the middle of February.

People across the whole country must now stay at home apart from five exceptions:

-for work, if people cannot work from home, such as those in the construction sector or key workers

-to shop for necessities such as food or medicines

-to exercise once per day at a local location. This can include with one other person from outside someone's household or support/childcare bubble

-to provide care or help to vulnerable people

-to attend medical appointments or medical care, or to flee the threat of harm or violence.

All primary schools, secondary schools and colleges will move to online learning from tomorrow.

However, nurseries can remain open while childcare and support bubbles will stay in place.

Those who are judged to be clinically vulnerable are being urged to stay at home as much as possible and not go to work even if they can't work from home.

They should only go outside for exercise or to attend health appointments.

Mr Johnson said the new coronavirus variant was spreading at a "frustrating and alarming" speed.

"As I speak to you tonight, our hospitals are under more pressure from COVID than at any time since the start of the pandemic," he added.

The prime minister's announcement came after the UK's COVID alert level was raised from Level 4 to Level 5, the highest possible, for the first time.

In a stark warning, the UK's chief medical officers said there was a "material risk of the NHS in several areas being overwhelmed over the next 21 days" without further action.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon had earlier announced a nationwide lockdown would be introduced in Scotland from midnight tonight.

And the Welsh government announced that all schools and colleges will move to online learning until 18 January.

The UK recorded 58,784 new coronavirus cases on Monday - the highest daily total since the start of the pandemic.

It is the seventh day in a row that there have been more than 50,000 daily cases, while government figures also showed there have been 407 more deaths in the past 24 hours.

Source: Sky News

 

[Adrenaliner 3,809]

Ugh this nightmare is never gonna end right

[Celloo Deng 56,315]

Here we go again! 

[Dominic 11,922]

Nearly a year on and another lockdown, im so fed up of this now, really starting to take its toll.

[Guest]

I knew this was coming! I just feel for people who are on there own and hope they are getting the support they need during this time 

[shoful 13,304]

Will we stand tall underneath this tree

[numb the flame 7,321]

I hate Boris and think he's acted far too late to do this but it's about time he did it. 

[G U C C I 5,578]

Those five exceptions do nothing but create a huge hole in the potential effectiveness of the lockdown. If you are going to put your economy through a lockdown to benefit peoples health then do it. Lock the country down with only grocery stores, trash disposal, and hospitals open. Maybe gas stations where absolutely needed and that's it. If you leave your home for any reason other than food or medical help then you're fined. I don't understand the point of going through this multiple times if you don't ever do it well enough to be effective in the first place. 

[CAPRISONGS 1,652]

my exams are cancelled, i don't know how to feel... like I've been working for 3-5 years for these...

[Mirrion Rizzons 12,682]

As usual, Boris mentions nothing about what this means for university’s 

we’re all so confused 

[StarstruckIllusion 53,564]

49 minutes ago, Adrenaliner said:

Ugh this nightmare is never gonna end right

Vaccines are literally being given out. Y’all dramatic 

[Morphine Prince 109,654]

6 minutes ago, StarstruckIllusion said:

Vaccines are literally being given out. Y’all dramatic 

The vaccine rollout is a disaster so far. They should use these lockdowns to vaccinate millions. 

[StarstruckIllusion 53,564]

3 minutes ago, Morphine Prince said:

The vaccine rollout is a disaster so far. They should use these lockdowns to vaccinate millions. 

I know but “it’s not gonna end” plsss the end literally started 😭 and at record speeds. The last fastest vaccine ever created took 4 years 

[Schwerk 7,453]

Its been this way in the Netherlands since mid december. Too late if you ask me. People where fun shopping all fall and returned to work at the office. You can really tell it's more quiet now. Especially where I live, we used to get a lot of tourists stil. I really don't understand people traveling for vacation during this time unless you truly get tested and quarantine, which I don't believe most of them actually do.

[MonsterMom 12,647]

They just need to be giving those vaccines out 24/7 and let’s get this over with!