Covid: Johnson warns England's lockdown won't end 'with a bang'

The Spectator's Katy Balls said, "Opting for a flower analogy, Johnson promised that things would be better, in terms of restrictions being eased, by the time tulip season was over - perhaps even by daffodil season".

The rising caseload forced authorities to impose the U.K.'s third nationwide lockdown this week, closing schools and putting the economy on course for a potentially devastating double-dip recession.

"And that is why to do that we must once again stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives".

"You may only leave home for limited reasons permitted in law, such as to shop for essentials, to work if you absolutely can not work from home, to exercise, to seek medical assistance such as getting a COVID-19 test or to escape domestic abuse" -Boris Johnson, Britain prime minister. Grants of up to 9,000 pounds ($12,200) will be offered to businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors. It aims to vaccinate all elderly care home residents and their carers, everyone over the age of 70, all frontline health and social care workers, and everyone who is clinically extremely vulnerable by mid-February.

Boris Johnson has told MPs the government will not consider relaxing the lockdown rules until the middle of February at the earliest. This will of course be the second academic year in a row that is affected due to the effect of COVID-19.

Overall, Britain has been among the worst hit in the world by the outbreak, with some 2.7 million cases and more than 75,000 deaths.

A total of 58,784 people tested positive in the United Kingdom on Monday, with cases in the last seven days up 50 percent on the previous week.

Meanwhile, Scotland has also announced a new lockdown.

Police officers arrest a protestor during an anti-COVID-19 lockdown demonstration outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, central London on January 6, 2021. Germany is set to extend its strict lockdown until the end of the month, and Italy will keep nationwide restrictions in place this weekend while relaxing curbs on weekdays.

Under the measures, people in England will only be able to go out for essential reasons, exercise outdoors will only be allowed once a day, and outdoor sports venues must close. He, however, stressed that there is "one huge difference" compared to the lockdown of previous year. "But we just need to be aware of the fact this is not a problem that just disappears".

Johnson said that he hopes that the country may fare well against the recent surge by February and inoculate the first vaccine dose to everyone in top four groups identified by the authorities. It is now being carried out with two vaccines, Pfizer / BioNTech and AstraZeneca / Oxford.

Both vaccines require two shots, but British authorities made a decision to delay the second shot - shifting the timeline for administering the booster from 21 days after the first to up to 12 weeks later - in order to vaccinate as many people as quickly as possible.

There has been discontent from lockdown skeptics among some members of Johnson's ruling Conservative Party.

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