The British government confirmed on Saturday that the four-week lockdown in England will not be extended beyond December 2, when this British province will return to a system of local restrictions to limit the second wave of the new coronavirus.
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On Monday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson “will confirm that national lockdown will end on December 2 and indicate how England returns to a three-tier local restrictions plan,” Downing Street said in a statement on Saturday.
This plan will resume the same levels of restriction as before the confinement, but “more areas will be placed in a higher level in order to keep the virus under control” and “to preserve the gains of the confinement”.
It will be discussed in detail and approved on Sunday at a government meeting, then presented to parliament on Monday. “The ministers will announce on Thursday under what level of restrictions each region will be placed,” the statement said.
In the United Kingdom, the most bereaved country in Europe with more than 54,600 deaths due to the new coronavirus, each British province decides on its own strategy in the face of the health crisis.
This announcement of deconfinement in England comes the day after tightening restrictions in 11 areas of Scotland and the announcement of new confinement in Northern Ireland, which will last two weeks, until December 11.
The plan unveiled Monday for England “will also set out how people can see their loved ones at Christmas,” Downing Street added in his statement, recalling that “ministers have made it clear that it will not be a holiday season normal ”.
“Recent positive developments in vaccines and mass testing give hope that the use of restrictions to fight the virus can be gradually reduced by the spring.”
The British government announced Friday that it had asked its health regulator to review Pfizer / BioNTech’s vaccine against the new coronavirus. If approved, the executive says it is ready to “start the first vaccinations as early as next month”.