LONDON • British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will impose a new month-long national lockdown in England until Dec 2, ITV's political editor said yesterday, as the coronavirus outbreak spreads faster than even the government's worst case scenario.
If the lockdown is implemented, schools and universities, as well as essential businesses, would be exempt from the restrictions, said people familiar with the plan, who asked not to be identified because a final decision has not yet been made.
It will take effect as soon as Wednesday, said the Times, which first reported on the plan.
Mr Johnson is expected to hold a news conference tomorrow to announce the new measures, said the report.
The pandemic is spreading in most parts of Britain, where the official death toll of 46,299 is the highest in Europe.
The government's scientific advisers are warning Covid-19 infections are rising so fast that unless something can be done to reduce infections, the "reasonable worst case" scenario of 80,000 dead could be exceeded.
Currently, the government has a three-tier system of restrictions for local areas in England, with Level 3 the highest.
Wales last month adopted a "firebreak lockdown" until Nov 9 to try to lower the transmission rate, while scientists and opposition lawmakers have long been urging Mr Johnson to do the same for England.
"For the naysayers that don't believe in a second wave, there is a second wave," Professor Calum Semple, an expert in outbreak medicine at the University of Liverpool, told the BBC.
"And unlike the first wave, where we had a national lockdown which protected huge swathes of society, this outbreak is now running riot across all age groups."
To ease pressure on the country's health system battling the pandemic, Britain on Friday announced it would restrict the export of flu vaccines as it embarks on a mass vaccination programme.
Health officials have warned some hospitals could soon become overloaded as winter approaches.
Hospitalisations skyrocketed in more than a dozen countries in Europe, with admissions soaring beyond the peak reached last spring in a swathe from Austria to Portugal. The Czech Republic even resorted to deploying students to work at understaffed hospitals.
Meanwhile, Greece, where a new peak of 1,690 new Covid-19 cases was recorded on Friday, said it will expand a night-time curfew on movement and shut restaurants and bars in the most populous areas of the country for one month from Tuesday to contain a resurgence in cases.
BLOOMBERG, REUTERS
