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UK defends new COVID restrictions, critics say it’s too late

Published:Tuesday | October 13, 2020 | 12:46 PM
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves after a Cabinet meeting at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London, Tuesday, October 13, 2020. The British government has carved England into three tiers of risk in a bid to slow the spread of a resurgent coronavirus. Boris Johnson said the three-tier national system was designed to “simplify and standardise” a confusing patchwork of local rules. (Jonathan Brady/PA via AP)

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s government on Tuesday defended its new three-tier system of COVID-19 risks and restrictions, but critics suggested it was too little, too late amid reports that the government’s own scientific advisers had recommended tougher action three weeks ago.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson unveiled the new system Monday in an orchestrated series of events that culminated with an address to the nation.

The plan sets out progressively stricter measures to slow the spread of COVID-19, based on local infection rates, and put regions into three risk groups: moderate, high and very high.

The new system comes three weeks after the Conservative government’s last nationwide program, which banned gatherings of more than six people and required pubs and restaurants to close at 10:00 p.m.

The government’s scientific advisers at that time recommended that ministers go further, suggesting a two-to three-week national lockdown to short-circuit rapidly rising infection rates.

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick told the BBC on Tuesday that the government took “robust action” in response to the scientists’ advice, but ministers had to balance those recommendations against other impacts.

“The prime minister has to balance protecting people’s lives and the NHS from the virus while also prioritising things that matter to us as a society, like education and keeping as many people in employment as possible,” Jenrick said.

”He also must ensure that other health risks, like mental health and illnesses, don’t get neglected as a result.”

Britain already has the deadliest outbreak in Europe, with about 43,000 reported deaths, and Europe as a whole reported a record number of new cases last week, over 700,000, according to the World Health Organization.

The government said 143 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for COVID-19 in the 24 hours until Tuesday morning.

Britain’s daily number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases has more than tripled in the past three weeks, with 17,234 further cases confirmed Tuesday.

Infection rates are rising across all age groups and regions.

The highest infection rates are in the northeast and northwest, with more than 600 cases per 100,000 people in Liverpool and nearly 500 per 100,000 in Manchester, compared with fewer than 100 cases per 100,000 in many parts of London.

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