British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has won parliament's backing for England's latest lockdown, after telling lawmakers that schools would be the first to reopen when he can start a "gradual unwrapping" of the strict measures.
Faced with criticism over the timing of the lockdown and the abrupt closure of all schools, Johnson on Wednesday defended his decision by saying the new, more contagious, coronavirus variant and the threat it posed to the health service offered little choice.
Johnson justified his decision on schools, which some lawmakers said threatened to hurt the opportunities of millions of children, by saying he did "everything in our power to keep them open" until "every other option had been closed off".
"And when we begin to move out of lockdown I promise they will be the very first things to reopen. That moment may come after the February half-term, although we should remain extremely cautious about the timetable ahead," he said.
"And as was the case last spring, our emergence from the lockdown cocoon will be not a big bang but a gradual unwrapping."
Lawmakers voted 524-16 in favour of the lockdown, which is already in law.
Britain has been among the countries worst-hit by Covid-19, with the highest death toll in Europe and case numbers repeatedly reaching record highs.
Johnson, who has been criticised for being too slow to introduce strict regulations in the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, was not expected to face a large rebellion from his Conservative Party in the vote on the latest lockdown.
But his seeming reluctance to introduce tougher measures quickly to curb a surge in infections and his mixed messages on opening primary schools have prompted criticism, not only in the opposition Labour Party but also among Conservatives.
Some in his party are also critical of any "draconian" restrictions, demanding that they be removed as quickly as possible. But Johnson was cautious about any time lines.
He said the legislation would run until March 31 "not because we expect the full national lockdown to continue until then, but to allow a steady, controlled and evidence-led move down through the tiers (of restrictions) on a regional basis".
ENGLAND, WALES RECORD MOST DEATHS
England and Wales have recorded the most deaths in 2020 of any year in more than a century, with the Covid-19 pandemic leading to a rise in the number of excess deaths, a senior statistician says.
About 604,000 deaths were registered in the two countries in the last 52 weeks, about 73,000 or 14% above the five-year average, Nick Stripe from Britain's Office of National Statistics tweeted on Wednesday.
He said only one year since 1900 had seen annual deaths top 600,000, which was 1918, when the Spanish flu pandemic struck.
"Looking at excess deaths, we began the year with death levels below the 5-yr average," Stripe said. "This was followed by a huge peak in the spring, driven by Covid, until lockdown 1 took effect."
He said the figures indicated that the number of excess deaths, adjusted for population, would be at the highest level since 1940.
"Even with measures taken to limit Covid spread, 2020 will still top 1951, the year of a major flu epidemic," he said. "Without all our efforts, 2020 could have been much worse."
