COVID-19: England in total lockdown, schools shut

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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has plunged England into a national lockdown even more brutal than last March in a desperate bid to keep the mutant coronavirus at bay.

The PM declared that primary and secondary schools will be shut from tomorrow until at least February half-term, with only the vulnerable and offspring of key workers allowed to go in.

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University students are being told to stay at home and study remotely, while exams are said to be unlikely to go ahead as planned. Non-essential retail, gyms and all hospitality is being ordered to close across the country. Nurseries can stay open.

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Mail Online reports that cafes, bars and restaurants will be allowed to serve takeaway – but in a tightening from the draconian measures last spring, they will not be allowed to serve any alcohol. Vulnerable people are being told to shield where possible. Communal worship can continue with social distancing in place.

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The public will once again be told they must only leave home for one of five reasons: to go to work if essential, shop for necessities, exercise – allowed with one other person from another household, care for someone, or to seek medical help.

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The extraordinary third national squeeze is expected to  come into effect as soon as regulations are made tomorrow, but Mr Johnson urged the public to adopt the new rules now. MPs will get a vote on them on Wednesday when Parliament is recalled, although there is no prospect of them being defeated. Aides believe there is little chance of them being lifted for at least seven weeks.

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In an address from Downing Street, Mr Johnson said: ‘Our hospitals are under more pressure than at any time since the start of the pandemic. It’s clear we need to do more  while our vaccines are rolled out.’

He said it would not be ‘possible or fair’ for exams to go ahead this summer as normal.

‘The weeks ahead will be the hardest but I really do believe that we are reaching the end of the struggle,’ he said.

But he admitted that he could only give assurance that the situation will improve assuming that ‘our understanding of the virus does not change again’.

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Ministers were said to have been left with no option after being confronted with dire figures by science chiefs today. Hospital patients with coronavirus had risen by 40 per cent over a week, and are now higher than at the peak of the first wave.

The scale of the problem was underlined as the latest grim daily tally was released, with 58,784 new cases – a 42 per cent rise on last Monday.

It means the UK has passed the milestone of 50,000 infections every day for a week, suggesting that the easing of restrictions at Christmas helped fuel the outbreak.

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