UK decides to repen schools with vaccination underway

During a visit at a London hospital on the day the UK administered for the first time the vaccine created by Oxford University and pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, Prime minister Boris Johnson said that more restrictions would be necessary to control the virus.

London:British prime minister Boris Johnson said Monday that tougher measures will be announced in England to stop the spread of the new virus variant.

During a visit at a London hospital on the day the UK administered for the first time the vaccine created by Oxford University and pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, Johson recognized that citizens might be ''frustrated'' with the coronavirus restrictions.

But more restrictions would be necessary, he insisted.

"If you look at the numbers, there's no question we will have to take tougher measures and we will be announcing those in due course,'' Johnson said.

England has recorded more than 50,000 new virus infections on each of the past six days.

Johnson stressed that while he understood people's concerns about sending their children back to class, schools were safe.

And he rejected claims that the National Health Service lacked the capacity to deliver the vaccination programme as fast as the government wanted.

The issue, he said, was that every batch of the vaccine had to be approved and checked for quality, before being given to patients.

AP