Why is there a Third Lockdown?

Maeve Perras

On January 4, 2021, the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, announced that The UK will be going into its third full lockdown, following a sharp rise in coronavirus cases, according to BBC. BBC also stated that there is a new variant of Covid that is going through the UK which influenced them to go into lockdown. The prime minister also stated in a news broadcast on live television that the lockdown will be starting on January 5, 2021 and could possibly end mid February but he could not promise anything. Now that it is mid February the Prime Minister has extended the stay at home place to at least March 8, according to BBC.

 

According to BBC, the lockdown includes a stay at home order which means that schools are now closed as well. One of the reasons behind the lockdown was because on January 5, 2021, the number of new daily Coronavirus cases in the UK were confirmed to be 60,000. That is a new record for the UK according to BBC. BBC also stated that one in 50 people in private households had the virus in the last week of December. The Office for National Statistics also stated on their website that more than one million people in England had Covid- 19 between December 27 and January 2.

 

 The prime minister stated,  “our hospitals are under more pressure than they have been at any time during the pandemic, and that 80,000 people in the country tested positive for Covid-19 on 29 December,” according to BBC. The hospitals could not handle any more cases so the prime minister decided it was the right decision to go into lockdown, so they could get things under control according to BBC. Adding on to his statement the prime minister also said he had “no choice because the number of patients in hospitals are 40% higher,” according to BBC. 

 

One of the main concerns, and main reasons, for the lockdown is the new variant of Covid-19. The prime Minister addressed the new variant in a statement where he said “Since the pandemic began last year the whole United Kingdom has been engaged in a great national effort to fight Covid, in fighting the old variant of the virus, our efforts would have continued to work. We now have a new variant, and it’s been frustrating and alarming to see the speed at which it’s been growing”.  Even though some people are angry about locking down a lot are in support, nine out of 10 people support the UK government’s lockdown measures, according to King’s College London research.  One positive note that has come out of all of this is, “There’s one huge difference compared to last year. We’re now rolling out the biggest vaccination program in our history,” Prime minister Johnson said.

 

Overall, the UK lockdown is very unfortunate and scary for some people. The new strain of the corona virus has already increased the number of deaths by 20%. It is also 50%-70% more contagious than the first strain according to CNBC. The UK is trying to do whatever they can to keep everyone safe.