London: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday faces mounting pressure for a temporary complete national lockdown to act as a “circuit breaker” for the continued rise in coronavirus infections, even as the new three-tier system COVID-19 restrictions came into force across England.
While the new medium, high and very high alert levels system cleared the House of Commons vote on Tuesday to be enforced from Wednesday, more than 40 MPs from Johnson’s own Conservative Party rebelled with their vote against the 10pm curfews imposed on pubs, bars, restaurants and other hospitality settings.
On the other end of the spectrum, Opposition Labour Leader Keir Starmer demanded a two to three-week short “circuit breaker” lockdown instead as he accused the government of having “lost control” of the pandemic.
“The government’s plan simply isn’t working – another course is needed,” he said.
The Opposition demand for a “temporary set of clear and effective restrictions” for the country came as Northern Ireland chose the toughest route of shutdowns to try and control the spread of the virus, which include shutting down schools from Monday.
Under the localised rules for the region, hospitality businesses will be limited to takeaway and delivery services for four weeks from Friday after health officials warned infections would rise further if both schools and hospitality premises remained open.
“A lot of these decisions will have huge impacts – we’re very determined this will be a time-limited intervention,” said Northern Ireland First Minister Arlene Foster.
Scotland, meanwhile, already has tougher measures in place and Wales has warned that its own “circuit breaker” lockdown preparations were underway. “I’m not announcing it today but I do want people to know we are planning very seriously, so if we do need to do it we’ll be in a position to do it and in a position to do it quickly,” said Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford. He has called on Johnson to convene an emergency Cabinet Office Briefing Room A meeting so that all four nations of the United Kingdom, able to set their own levels of lockdown, could discuss measures on a nationwide scale. (PTI)
