Lockdown, not vaccines behind drop in UK COVID-19 deaths: Boris Johnson

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned on Tuesday that the rapid drop in COVID-19 deaths was largely due to a three-month lockdown – not the vaccination program – and that cases would rise once again as restrictions ease.

"The bulk of the work in reducing the disease has been done by the lockdown," Johnson said, adding there was no reason to change the roadmap for reopening the economy. "As we unlock the result will inevitably be that we will see more infections and sadly we will see more hospitalizations and deaths."

With conditions improving, England reopened all retail, hairdressers, gyms and pubs on Monday and Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are due to reopen different elements of their societies in the coming weeks.

The vaccine rollout also got a boost on Tuesday when Moderna became the third vaccine to be offered in England after AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech.

With more than 127,000 fatalities, the United Kingdom has the fifth-highest death toll in the world from COVID-19.

For more info, please go to https://globalnews.ca/news/7752254/england-reopens-covid-pandemic-lockdown/

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