With new coronavirus cases sweeping through England, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a new lockdown in the country in an effort to stop the spread of a new, highly-contagious strain of the virus, the BBC reports.
Schools will be closed and people who can work from home will be told to do so, starting at midnight local time Monday. The lockdown will last through mid-February The British Parliament will vote to retroactively endorse the shutdown in its Wednesday session.
A new strain of the virus, called B.1.1.7, is reportedly 70% more contagious than the strains that impacted Europe and the United States earlier. More than 26,000 people in England are currently hospitalized with the coronavirus.