British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to do so Detail on Monday in Parliament the path to the gradual lifting of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in England, pending continued success of the ongoing vaccination campaign.
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The government stands ready to reopen elementary and secondary schools on March 8 after a two-month closure after Christmas, as reported in the UK press on Monday.
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Non-essential retail stores could reopen in late April, but pubs and restaurants will remain closed unless newspapers say they can’t have outdoor dining informed by the government Officer.
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Restrictions on Meeting outdoors and socializing indoorsas well as children’s sports would gradually be lifted from the end of March.
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However, further liberalization will depend on the continued decline in new infections, evidence that vaccines reduce hospital admissions and deaths, and the lack of new vaccine-resistant variants.
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More than 26% of the UK population received a first shot of a COVID-19 vaccine, the second largest in the world after Israel (82%) and the United Arab Emirates (55%). This corresponds to less than 6% of the population of the European Union.
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Restrictions in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are a matter for the regional, decentralized governments.
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ON study from Public Health Scotland Executive Agency shown on Monday that the Pfizer BioNTech
PFE,
-0.52%
BNTX,
-0.94%
and AstraZeneca – Oxford
AZN,
-0.42%
Vaccines reduced hospital admissions by up to 85% and 94%, respectively.
Read: Boris Johnson “deeply regrets every life lost” as Britain records 100,000 COVID-19 deaths
The outlook: Johnson’s caution seems to show that he learned from last year’s trials when the UK was the European country hardest hit by coronavirus disease. Now he can use the success of the vaccination campaign to give legitimate hope that Britain could finally see the end of the tunnel.
Regardless of the caution he insists, there is a risk that the prime minister will raise expectations to the point that compliance with current restrictions will weaken in the coming weeks and hurt the early results of the vaccination campaign.
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