Still too early to talk about lifting coronavirus restrictions: UK PM
LONDON - British Prime Minister has said that it is still too early to talk about ending coronavirus restrictions as the infection levels in the country are still "very high", local media reported Saturday.
It was "still early days" and people should continue to stay at home and follow the lockdown rules, Johnson said in a video posted on Twitter Friday night.
"I want to stress that it is still early days and we have rates of infection in this country (that are) still very, very high and (we have) more people -- almost twice as many people -- in our hospitals with COVID now than there were back at the peak in April," he said.
But the prime minister said he would announce a "road map" with a "steady programme for beginning to unlock" on Feb. 22.
Johnson made the remarks as he faces mounting pressure to give more details about when life can start getting back to normal.
Downing Street has confirmed that all British adults aged 50 and older are expected to be offered a first dose of the coronavirus vaccine by early May.
Nearly 11 million people in Britain have been given the first jab of the coronavirus vaccine, according to the latest official figures.
British Health Secretary Matt Hancock confirmed that Britain remains "on track" to complete the vaccination of the top priority groups, which cover 15 million people, by mid-February. Britain aims to offer all adults their first dose by autumn.
According to the British government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), Britain's coronavirus reproduction number, known as the R number, has dropped slighted to between 0.7 and one.
England is currently under the third national lockdown since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country. Similar restriction measures are also in place in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Germany, Russia and the United States have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines.
