UK announces £4.6 billion in new lockdown grants : Boris Johnson

Michael Gove, United Kingdom cabinet minister, said on Tuesday the new lockdown may last until March. Parliament has been recalled on Wednesday to pass related legislation for the third lockdown since March 2020

Britain offered a new 4.6 billion pound ($6.2 billion) support package for businesses struggling to cope with a third national lockdown that began this week to stem a new wave of COVID-19 virus cases sweeping the country.
Hours after UK Prime Minister Boris announced another six-week lockdown, chancellor Rishi Sunak on Tuesday announced $6.25 billion in grants for companies that will be closed at least until mid-February, as new Covid-19 virus cases continued to spike.
Calling a recent spike driven by the new version "Dangerous", Johnson closed a third lockdown in England, effective from early Wednesday. Scotland went into lockdown on Monday night while Wales and Northern Ireland have similar strict restrictions

 “This will help businesses to urge through the months ahead – and crucially it'll help sustain jobs, so workers are often ready to return once they are able to reopen.”
Sanak said, "The new strain of the virus presents all of us with a major challenge - and when the vaccine is being uncontrolled, we need to toughen the restrictions. During the pandemic, we have given life and livelihoods Took swift action to protect and today we are announcing an additional cash injection to support businesses and jobs by spring.

The United Kingdom government has already borrowed nearly £250 billion since early 2020 and offered help to companies to furlough staff and to the self-employed, besides concessions and grants to corporations and Firms .
Michael, cabinet minister, admitted on Tuesday morning that the lockdown may last until March. Parliament has been recalled on Wednesday to pass related legislation for the third lockdown since March 2020.
A grim-faced Boris Johnson said on Monday night, “(We) now have a new variant of the virus. It has been both frustrating and alarming to ascertain the speed with which the new variant is spreading. UK scientists have confirmed this new variant of Covid is between 50 and 70 per cent more transmissible.
As I speak to you tonight, our hospitals are under more pressure from Covid-19 than at any time since the beginning of the pandemic. In England alone, the amount of Covid patients in hospitals has increased by nearly a 3rd within the last week, to almost 27,000.
He added, “That number is 40% above the primary peak in April. On December 29, quite 80,000 people tested positive for Covid across the United Kingdom – a replacement record. The number of deaths is up by 20% over the last week and can sadly rise further.
In England, we must therefore enter a national lockdown which is hard enough to contain this variant. That means the govt is once more instructing you to remain reception.”