THIRD LOCKDOWN IN ENGLAND MAKES 2021 BLEAKER

Britain began its third COVID-19 lockdown on Tuesday (early Wednesday, January 6, 2021, in Manila), with the government calling for one last major national effort to defeat the spread of a virus that has infected an estimated one in 50 citizens before mass vaccinations turn the tide, Estelle Shirbon and Natalie Thomas reported for Reuters.

Finance minister Rishi Sunak announced a new package of business grants worth 4.6 billion pounds ($6.2 billion) to help keep people in jobs and firms afloat until measures are relaxed gradually, at the earliest from mid-February but likely later.

Britain has been among the countries worst-hit by COVID-19, with the second highest death toll in Europe and an economy that suffered the sharpest contraction of any in the Group of Seven during the first wave of infections last spring.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the latest data showed 2% of the population were currently infected - more than a million people in England. "When everybody looks at the position, people understand overwhelmingly that we have no choice," he told a news conference.

More than 1.3 million people in Britain have already received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccination, but this is not enough to have an impact on transmission yet.

Johnson announced the new lockdown late on Monday, saying the highly contagious new coronavirus variant first identified in Britain was spreading so fast the National Health Service (NHS) risked being overwhelmed within 21 days.

In England alone, some 27,000 people are in hospital with COVID, 40% more than during the first peak in April, with infection numbers expected to rise further after increased socializing during the Christmas period.

Since the start of the pandemic, more than 75,000 people have died in the United Kingdom within 28 days of testing positive for coronavirus, according to official figures.

The number of daily new infections passed 60,000 for the first time on Tuesday.

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