05 Jan

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced a new lockdown for England to combat a more contagious variant of the coronavirus.

Johnson made the announcement in a televised speech on Monday evening, as Britain reported a record 58,784 new cases of COVID-19 for the day.

The prime minister said that under the new measures, people will be allowed to go out only for reasons such as food shopping and exercise. Nonessential shops are being asked to close.

People breaking the rules face fines of 200 pounds, or about 270 dollars.

Primary and secondary schools and colleges across England must move to remote classes from Tuesday until mid-February.

The prime minister said, "It's clear that we need to do more together to bring this new variant under control."

He also said, "I know how frustrated you are and I know you have had more than enough of government guidance about defeating this virus, but now more than ever, we must pull together."

As of Monday, there were nearly 27,000 coronavirus patients in hospitals in England. That is an increase of 40 percent from 10 days earlier, and more than the number recorded during the first wave in the spring of last year.

Scotland has announced similar measures that will take effect on Tuesday.

NHK