England to Lift Lockdown Order on February 2 Next Month

Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] The UK government has decided to lift the lockdown imposed across England as scheduled on December 2. The UK government had imposed the lockdown across England on the 5th due to the resurgence of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

According to foreign media including AFP on the 21st (local time), the UK Prime Minister's Office announced that the England lockdown will end on December 2, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson will officially announce this on the 23rd. Johnson is expected to attend Parliament and announce the "Winter COVID-19 Response Plan," which includes this information.

The UK government has been enforcing lockdown measures since the 5th, suspending operations of non-essential businesses, pubs, and restaurants across England for four weeks until December 2. The cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the UK has now exceeded 1.4 million, with deaths surpassing 54,000.

A spokesperson for the Prime Minister's Office stated, "The England lockdown has helped control the virus and reduced the burden on the National Health Service (NHS)," and added that once the lockdown is lifted, a three-tier response system will be reactivated to apply differentiated restrictions based on the level of infection spread in each region.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.