As the sequel of the emergence of the new COVID-19 variant, the United Kingdom has called the lockdown to help the territory in curbing the surge of the new threat of the pandemic amid hoping for a breakthrough in vaccination. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has imposed a new national lockdown for England to fight the variant and to mitigate its spread as Britons are bracing up for the fresh challenge within four days into the New Year. 

The British Prime Minister brought England under the complete lockdown which will be in place at least till the second week of February. As per the fresh directives of the lockdown, which has come into effect, the government has ordered to close the primary and secondary schools and colleges and the students would be pushed to stay off from physical learning and would stick to online. 

The university students will not be returning until at least mid-February and all non-essential shops and personal care services like hairdressers will be closed while restaurants are allowed to operate takeout services. After imposing another phase of the complete lockdown, the British Prime Minister said that the people may exit their residences only for limited reasons, signaling how the government is concerned over the spread of the new variant. 

The UK has emerged as the epicenter of the new COVID-19 variant and it found the birth of the mutant novel coronavirus late last year. The British government has admitted that the new variant is 70% more transmissible than the COVID-19 and it also spreads faster than the pandemic. The government said that the situation is getting out of control following which the countries across and beyond Europe woke up and suspended the transportation corridors with the UK. 

Boris Johnson said that the country is at a critical moment, with cases rising rapidly in every part of its territory. According to reports, there were 26,626 COVID-19 patients in England as of Monday, an increase of more than 30% from a week ago which is 40 percent above the highest level of the first wave in the spring. The Prime Minister addressed the country from Downing Street on Monday night during which he said that the UK is at a pivotal stage in its fight against the rapidly spreading infections. 

He said, "As I speak to you tonight, our hospitals are under more pressure from COVID than at any time. It's clear that we need to do more together to bring this new variant under control. In England, we must therefore go into a national lockdown which is tough enough to combat this variant. That means the government is once again instructing you to stay at home".

"I want to say to everyone right across the UK that I know how tough this is. And I know how frustrated you are and I know that you have had more than enough of government's guidance", Boris Johnson added as he advised people to leave their homes only for essential purposes. The Prime Minister further stated, "We are rolling out the biggest vaccination programme in our history. We have vaccinated more people in the UK than in the rest of Europe combined", as he pressed that the country is having a breakthrough in its vaccination drive. 

Earlier, the spokesperson of Downing street said that the spread of the new variant of COVID-19 has led to rapidly escalating case numbers across the country. The Prime Minister is clear that further steps must now be taken to arrest this rise and to protest the NHS and save lives. UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said that this new variant is much easier to catch, it is much more transmissible, and the country is now seeing the effect of that in lots of different parts of the country.

Along with England, Scotland had earlier on Monday announced a tight stay-at-home lockdown for the month of January to try and control the rapid spread of the new variant. Scotland First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said that it's time to act firmly and immediately. So far, several countries across and beyond Europe and most of the nations had banned transports to and from the UK. The new variant has got the grounds of spread in over thirty countries including India, Denmark, Netherlands, and Australia.