Britain’s government on Friday warned that it could re-impose a national lockdown across England,
This lockdown is in a bid to curb the spread of the virus as rates of hospital admission keeps doubling every eight days.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock disclosed that “we want to avoid a national lockdown, but we’re prepared to do it if we need to,”
“We’re prepared to do what it takes both to protect lives and to protect livelihoods,” he said.
He also indicated that local measures could come after restrictions are put in place on swathes of northeast England from Friday.
Britain is the worst-hit country in Europe by the pandemic.
Nearly 42,000 deaths from COVID-19.
Hancock said “we’ve also sadly seen that the number of people hospitalised with coronavirus is doubling about every eight days, so we do need to take action”.
Stricter regulations on socialising came into force in Northumberland, North and South Tyneside, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Gateshead, and County Durham.
Government scientists reportedly proposed a blanket lockdown to be put in place in England for two weeks in October.
This lockdown will coincide with English schools’ half-term holiday.
The government has also been criticised for failing to achieve the “world-beating” testing and tracing system which it promised that it would be put in place over the summer months.
Hancock however defended the government and said it was “doing everything we possibly can for the cavalry that’s on the horizon of the vaccine and mass testing”.
