By Chathushka Perera
London, UK (CWBN)_ After the number of Covid-19 cases in the UK rose beyond one million, PM Boris Johnson, announced that England will be placed under a Tier III lockdown for a month, during a press conference held at Downing Street, yesterday (31st October).
Although the restrictions are expected to ease by the 2nd of December, Johnson noted that the UK will be looking at a “very different” sort of Christmas this year.
He also stated that regional hospitals in South-West England are due to run out of capacity in the coming weeks and that medical professionals will be facing decisions to prioritize between patients or in other words “who would live and who would die”, as resources such as ventilators and other gear run scarce.
UK is among the countries worst hit by the Covid-19 pandemic with an infection rate seen to rise rapidly between September and October despite regional, tier-based lockdown measures. The UK has also been experiencing an exponential death rate as early as March.
Although the rates slowed down in early March, they began to rise yet again in September, with no signs of the curve taking the lows in the days to come. According to current statistics, a total of over 46,000 people have died in the past months.
As per the restrictions that have come into place, non-essentials services will be put on halt, this includes, restaurants, pubs and bars, gymnasiums, entertainment venues and many retails outlets across UK.
Schools and higher education institutes will remain operational.
Discussions to implement the lockdown were reportedly in progress since mid-September when the second rise of infections was first reported, but, Johnson had set the option of another lockdown aside accounting the national economy. The delayed decision has faced severe push back from the Opposition.
