British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced a new national COVID-19 lockdown in England, instructing people to stay at home to contain a more contagious variant of the coronavirus.
Non-essential shops and hospitality would have to remain closed, while primary and secondary schools would close from today.
The announcement came yesterday, just hours after the government hailed Britain’s success in becoming the first country to begin rolling out the vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca against COVID-19.
Johnson said a new, more contagious variant of the coronavirus first identified in the United Kingdom and now present in many other countries was spreading at great speed and immediate action was needed to slow it down.