(ANSA) - LONDON, 02 NOV - The return to a national anti-coronavirus lockdown from Thursday in England was a choice "without alternatives given the latest data" on the infection.
The British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had said this when he illustrated the measure in the House of Commons and rejected - current numbers on the cases surveyed in hand - the accusation of the Labor opposition of having acted with "catastrophic" delay compared to the first alarms.
Johnson confirmed that schools, universities and those economic sectors such as construction or manufacturing in which "it is not possible to work from home" will remain open.
For the rest, it will be possible to leave the house only for essential needs and in addition to pubs, restaurants, hotels and non-vital shops, also gyms and recreational facilities, as well as places of worship, except for funerals or weddings with a reduced number of participants.
According to Prime Minister Tory, there is, however, no reason to "apologize for trying" in the past few weeks to avoid a generalized lockdown whose "not easy" impact on many he admitted and which will nevertheless be less stringent in his words than that of March and April.
A lockdown that confirmed its expiry, with a deadline set at the moment in four weeks, adding that the executive then aims to return to the more limited system of local restrictions graduated territory by territory after 2 December and after a further vote by Parliament.
(HANDLE).
