MADRID (EUROPA PRESS) .- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson ruled out completely closing the borders of the United Kingdom as a measure to mitigate the expansion of the covid-19 pandemic in the country, claiming that “it is not practical.”
Johnson, who responded to the request of Labor leader Keir Starmer, to impose more restrictions to prevent the entry of SARS-CoV-2 mutations into the United Kingdom, referred to the amount of drugs and food that his country imports.
In addition, he recalled that the Executive has already tightened travel restrictions with the aim of reducing the spread of the disease.
During a parliamentary session of questions to the ‘premier’, he assured that the British government will continue with its plan to impose quarantines in hotels for people arriving in the United Kingdom from areas heavily affected by the pandemic, before noting that the health authorities “They have not recommended a complete (entry) ban.”
British authorities tightened restrictions on international travel a month ago and implemented a mandatory 10-day quarantine for people returning to the UK. Currently, up to 33 countries are on the ‘black list’ of high risk countries, including most of the South American nations, South Africa or Portugal.
Likewise, he warned that the rates of infection by covid-19 in the European country are “alarmingly high”. However, at a press conference, reported by the BBC, England’s Chief Medical Officer, Chris Whitty, pointed out that the wave of infections is “going downhill”, stressing that health professionals “think we have reached the top.”
During the day, the UK Ministry of Health reported 19,202 new infections of covid-19, a figure slightly higher than the cases reported on Tuesday, more than 16,800.
In terms of deaths, the United Kingdom registered a decrease, with 1,322 compared to about 1,450 the day before. With these figures, the country’s totals have risen to 3 million 871 thousand 825 cases and 109 thousand 335 fatalities.
In reference to hospitalizations, the British health authorities detailed that 2,651 patients have required admission in the last hours. So far, 32,851 people remain hospitalized in health centers with the disease, of which 3,638 require mechanical respiration.
For their part, 10 million 021 thousand 471 people have already received the first dose of the vaccine against covid-19, while 498 thousand 962 have also been inoculated with the second. In this sense, Johnson praised the “colossal” effort of British health professionals during vaccination, before recalling that, although the numbers decrease, the British health system is still “under great pressure”.
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