BritishPrimeMinisterBorisJohnsononMondayorderedEnglandinto a newnationallockdowntocontain a surgeoncovein 19 casesthatthreatenstooverwhelmpartsofthehealthsystembefore a vaccineprogramreaches a criticalmass.
Johnsonsaid a new, morecontagiousvariantofthecoronavirus, firstidentifiedintheUnitedKingdomandnowpresentinmanyothercountries, wasspreadingatgreatspeed, andimmediateactionwasneededtoslowitdown.
Wemustthereforegointo a nationallockdown, whichistoughenoughtocontainthisvariant, Johnsonadded.
ThisaboutthenewlockdownmeasuresYoumayonlyleavehomeforlimitedreasonspermittedinlaw, suchastoshopforessentialstoworkifyouabsolutelycannotworkfromhometoexercisetoseekmedicalassistance, suchasgetting a covidtestortoescapedomesticabuse.
However, heurgedcautionaboutthetimetableandappealedtoeeveryonetocomplywiththerules.
Britain's economysuffered a historiccrashbetweenAprilandJuneoflastyearasswathsofbusinesseswereshutteredbythefirstlockdownandthenewlockdownisalsoexpectedtoput a strainontheeconomy.