England and Scotland under lockdown as Covid cases rise

PM Boris Johnson announced that the coming weeks would be the 'hardest yet'.

England will stay under lockdown due to a surge in Covid cases approximately till mid- February until fresh notice, said PM Boris Johnson on Monday. Schools shall also remain closed and the lockdown will come into effect from Wednesday, he said addressing the people on television. Scotland too announced lockdown from midnight on Tuesday and the decision will be reviewed by January end.

This announcement comes in the wake of a sudden rise in the COVID-19 cases as the United Kingdom reported 58,784 cases on Monday. There are 27,000 positive cases of COVID-19 in hospitals which is 40% more than the number of cases reported at the peak of outbreak of the first wave, said Johnson. "With most of the country already under extreme measures, it's clear that we need to do more, together, to bring this new variant under control while our vaccines are rolled out," he said. " In England, we must therefore go into a national lockdown," he added.

Johnson ordered everyone to stay indoors except essential reasons such as medical requirements, food, exercise and work that cannot be done at home. He also encouraged everyone by saying that four most vulnerable groups will be inoculated against COVID-19 in the next six weeks.