UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced that England will enter another lockdown, the third of its kind since the coronavirus pandemic began. The new lockdown came into force at 12am on Tuesday.
Earlier on Monday, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon also issued a stay-at-home order for Scotland, beginning at midnight and lasting until the end of January.
Boris has urged people across the country to “stay at home” except for permitted reasons. Under the new lockdown, people in UK are only allowed to go to work if it’s impossible to work from home, such as construction workers.
Britons will be allowed to go out to shop for necessities including food and medicines, and to exercise, ideally once a day and locally. Meanwhile, all schools and colleges will close from Tuesday (except for vulnerable children and those of key workers), and switch to remote learning until the middle of February.
Johnson said schools were “not unsafe” and children are “very unlikely” to be significantly affected by even the new Covid-19 variant, which was first discovered in the country last month and is said to be 70% more transmissible.
England’s rules are due to last until at least mid-February; Scotland’s will be reviewed at the end of January.
Scotland’s new lockdown, which is for the mainland and Skye, will also see schools closed to pupils, places of worship closed and group exercise banned.
“It is no exaggeration to say that I am more concerned about the situation we face now than I have been at any time since March last year,” said Sturgeon.
Wales, which has been in a national lockdown since 20 December, said schools and colleges would shut until 18 January for most pupils. Meanwhile, Northern Ireland, which entered a six-week lockdown on Boxing Day, plans to put its stay-at-home message into law, and will have an “extended period of remote learning”, the Stormont Executive said.
