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Prime Minister Boris Johnson during his televised address from his official residence
Photo: Pa Video / dpa
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson orders a new national lockdown in England as Britain experiences a "critical moment" in the corona pandemic.
The reason for the tightened measures is the increasing corona infections.
Johnson is instructing the population to stay home to help contain the more contagious variant of the coronavirus.
Nationwide lockdown will apply from midnight.
The UK Parliament is being called back from its vacation break to sit on Wednesday.
Broad, cross-party approval is expected.
The measures would likely stay in place through mid-February, Johnson said.
Shortly before, the Scottish government had announced a tough lockdown until the end of January.
"That means you have to stay home," Johnson said in a televised address Monday night.
The approximately 56 million British are then only allowed to leave their home for necessary activities such as visiting the doctor or work.
Schools also have to close.
With this measure, the Prime Minister contradicts his statement from the weekend.
On the BBC's "Andrew Marr Show", Johnson had emphasized: "I have no doubt that schools are safe and that education has priority."
Johnson said he understood the frustration of the population and called for one last joint effort.
"The weeks ahead will be the most difficult," said the Prime Minister.
"But I am convinced that we are entering the final phase of the fight, because with every vaccination that is injected into our arms, we turn the tide - against Covid and in favor of the British people."
Most recently, Great Britain had announced new records for new infections and patients.
Recently, there have been 20 percent more deaths, said Johnson.
He primarily blamed the coronavirus mutant discovered in Great Britain.
It is 50 to 70 percent more contagious than the previously known form.
Great Britain is now using two vaccines against the corona virus.
The vaccinations with the vaccine from the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca began on Monday and the vaccine from the Mainz company BioNTech and the US company Pfizer has been in use for four weeks.
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kim / AP / dpa / Reuters / AFP