Experts say that in two weeks, a degree of protection may develop in the four most vulnerable groups.

Coronavirus – the second year

It has been more than a year since the Chinese authorities reported the emergence of a new, rapidly spreading virus to the WHO. Since then, there has hardly been a person in the world who has not heard the term Covid-19, and more and more people are mourning a relative or friend with whom the new disease ended while existences collapsed in weeks and our entire lives were rewritten by the epidemic. By now, the vaccines have been completed, which in turn raises not only hope, but again a lot of questions, while not only stopping the virus, but also threatening another mutation. You can find the details of this fight in our series of articles.

Relaxation to curb the coronavirus epidemic in England could begin on March 8, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday. Johnson made a direct reference to the fact that as a first step in the opening, students could return to schools. The British prime minister will inform the lower house of London on Monday afternoon of the timetable for lifting the restrictions, and a press conference will be held in the evening.

In a preliminary statement issued by Downing Street at dawn on Monday, Johnson said the plan he outlines during the day aims to resolve the shortfall with cautious steps.

The Prime Minister stressed that the government has always considered the most important mitigation measure to allow children to return to schools, as this is extremely important not only for education but also for their mental and physical well-being.

Boris Johnson also stressed, however, that each step in lifting the restrictions will be decided on the basis of the latest available data, and the government will be careful not to undermine the progress made so far in curbing the epidemic by sacrificing the population.

That is why the UK government has put together a four-point system of criteria, and all four conditions must be met before any further steps can be taken to ease the restrictions.

Based on this, the process of unblocking can progress if the vaccination program continues successfully, if evidence shows that coronavirus vaccines reduce the number of hospitalizations and coronavirus deaths among vaccinated individuals if current infection rates are not threatened. by increasing the number of patients in need of hospital treatment to an extent that would put unsustainable pressure on the public health service (NHS) or in the absence of a new virus variant that fundamentally changes the perception of risks.

Downing Street said on Monday that all four of these criteria are currently being met, so on March 8, the government will take the first step towards easing restrictions.

According to the London Prime Minister’s Office, the choice was made because the British Government’s Joint Vaccination Committee (JCVI) said that by then some degree of protection would be established in the four most vulnerable populations on the body’s vaccination schedule.

At the top of the JCVI priority vaccination list are residents and carers of nursing homes over 80 years of age and those working in the front lines of health care and care services, followed in chronological order by 75, 70, 65, 60, 55, and finally People over 50 follow. The first official goal was to have at least the first dose of coronavirus vaccine available to all members of the top four at-risk groups on the JCVI priority list by 15 February, last Monday.

This goal was met one day before the deadline, and JCVI experts say that in this group, protection will develop three weeks after the first dose of the vaccine, at the latest by the March date for the first mitigation measures.

Boris Johnson has previously emphasized that a cautious pace of opening is possible only because the government is determined to make the process of lifting restrictions irreversible and that the current national closure since early January, which is now the third since the epidemic began, be the last such restrictive measure.



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From Monday, travelers to England will have to pay for two coronavirus tests



MTI / hvg.huWorld

The two PCR tests together cost 210 pounds, or 86 thousand forints.

Schools in England can open in March at the earliest



hvg.huWorld

Next month, students will be studying in distance learning.