Round-the-clock vaccinations now to ‘end nightmare’: UK Labor

One in 50 Britons are now estimated to have coronavirus, as the strict new lockdown looks like stretching into March.

UK Labour leader Keir Starmer says vaccinations must be stepped up if Britain is to win its war against the virus. Picture: Getty Images.

Britain’s Labour leader Keir Starmer has called for round-the-clock vaccinations to “end this nightmare’’ amid estimates that one in 50 Britons had the coronavirus in the seven days after Christmas and as the government is forced to borrow more to keep the economy afloat.

On the first day of a third devastating national lockdown, Sir Keir called for a “massive, immediate, and round-the-clock vaccination program to deliver millions of doses a week by the end of the month in every village and town, every high street and every GP surgery’’.

The UK has vaccinated 1.3m people including more than 650,000 aged over 80 with their first jab since the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine was approved on December 8 and the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine rolled out this week.

Sir Keir said: “This is now a race between the virus and the vaccine. And if we pull together as a nation, we can win.”

But the government has already pushed out expectations of when this latest national shutdown will be eased, with Cabinet Minister Michael Gove saying it would be in March, several weeks longer than what Prime Minister Boris Johnson indicated on Monday.

Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty also added to the gloom, threatening another lockdown next winter if people don’t stay at home this time.

“This coronavirus is not going to go away, just as flu doesn’t go away, just as many other viruses don’t go away,’’ he said.

“The time that benefits them most is always winter, that’s one of the reasons we’re having problems now, along with the new variant.”

On Tuesday there were 60,916 new infections recorded and 830 more deaths of people within 28 days of testing positive for the virus.

The most recent Office of National Statistics infection survey has calculated that 1,122,000 people in private households in England had the coronavirus between December 27 and January 2. This was up from an estimated 800,900 in the week ending December 23.

Financial experts said Britain is poised to borrow a record £450bn ($789bn) this financial year, rendering the most recent Office for Budget Responsibility’s £394bn borrowing forecast obsolete following the latest lockdown.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak announced a new £4.5bn package to try and keep businesses going as economists began factoring in a double dip recession.

Meanwhile other European nations are beginning to see an uptick in cases as the more infectious UK variant is found on the continent.

Germany has extended its nationwide lockdown, which has closed schools and non-essential shops since December 16, until the end of January.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said: “We need to restrict contact more strictly … We ask all citizens to restrict contact to the absolute minimum”.