UK Today in Coronavirus
Well it turns out that we have now gone into a 3rd National Lockdown, I thought the government might try and fight on for a bit longer, especially with their stance on school openings even up until the last minute, but it seems pressure from the public, opposition, local authorities and experts was too much for the government to keep pushing through.
And so now we must remain at home and only go out for essential shopping, work that cannot be done from home, and to exercise (with up to one other person), meeting anyone outside for any other purpose is barred and also meeting in households is barred apart from those in legal bubbles. And of course all places of education have been moved to remote learning and exams have again been cancelled for this year with alternative arrangements being put in place. I can only imagine many young people in education will be highly anxious about this and their future once again. But although the exam alternative arrangements last year were a bit chaotic and initially messed up, they did eventually fix it and gave fairer grading.
This lockdown is set to last minimum until mid-February but could certainly go on for longer depending on how case rates go and how effective the vaccine distribution is and its effects against the coronavirus. Experts had said that if no further action had been taken we could have possibly seen as many as 100k coronavirus cases per day with a major risk of overwhelming health services. There will be a review on 15th Feb to the lockdown and whether restrictions should begin being lifted.
It is hoped though that once this is all said and done it will be the final national lockdown as it is hoped vaccine circulation should eventually keep case rates controlled. Of course future threats still involve a possible mutation that can make the current vaccines ineffective and that worry is being looked into with the new South Africa strain of the virus, and it is also again why it is so important for another lockdown.
Boris Johnson does hope that by the middle of February that the four highest priority groups will have been offered the first dose of the vaccine, which would be around 13 million people which would require about two million vaccine jabs per week to meet the goal. These priority groups include the elderly, the vulnerable and frontline health and social care workers.
By meeting the above goal Boris Johnson then hopes to be able to begin scaling down coronavirus restrictions as people most in danger of the virus should no longer be at-risk. Of course though this will be a challenging target to reach outside of virus mutation other things could also possibly hamper it, such as possible vaccine production problems, delivery and circulation problems, possible stalling from quality control, and that if ultimately the infrastructure and systems of the NHS can handle the rollout – of course as we know armed forces are on standby for the vaccine rollout if needed.
In some more ambitious news, UK Music, an industry lobby group claims that live music events will be safe to go ahead this Summer and that health risks can be managed if the government sets a start date for the industry and also puts in place cancellation insurance and other measures such as extension to VAT rate reduction on tickets, rollover of 2020 Local Authority licence fees to this year and business rates relief extension. Honestly these requests are not at all unreasonable in my opinion as this industry has been hit very hard by the pandemic, with many jobs lost, with events having been cancelled since March last year. It is also reasonable to expect that the industry can begin operating events again in the Summer if the vaccine program works out as planned and no other problems have cropped up, of course though there are many things that could also possibly not go to plan that will stall such return of events for longer, further damaging the industry.
Further the effects of BREXIT have also put complications on tours held by the industry within EU member states.
To help with the current new lockdown the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has announced a new package of benefits for business in the retail, hospitality, and leisure sectors.
Georgia Senate Election Runoffs
Today the two runoff elections for the US Senate in Georgia take place that will decide the control of the US Senate under the Biden administration. The 117th Congress was sworn in on the 3rd January but the Senate still hangs in the balance. Tomorrow will also see the final certification of the Electoral College vote by Congress, as well as protests in Washington D.C by Trump supporters, as called for by Donald Trump who is still refusing to concede.
The Trump campaign held a rally in the state of Georgia yesterday ahead of the main day of voting, although early voting has been taking place since December, with high turnout clocked on most days leading up to today.
There are some predictions that the Democrats may have received a larger share of the early vote than they did in the November election, which if is the case gives them a good chance of clinching the seats in the very close elections. Polls are mixed on the outcome with most being well within the margin of error, giving an edge to either one side or the other. It really is impossible to say with confidence or any kind of certainty who will win.
Democrats will need to win both seats to take control of the Senate. Gaining control of the Senate will be highly beneficial for the incoming Biden administration as the Democrats already control the House of Representatives, and so completing the Senate would give beneficial federal legislative control to the Biden administration for at least the next two years, making it more easier for them to complete their platform of pledges and promises without stalling, delays or stalemate. The Senate also confirms administration Cabinet placements as well, making it all the more crucial.
Iran Tensions
It appears tensions with Iran are once again increasing, coming not long after the country went back to increasing uranium enrichment back to 20%, which is the largest ever breach of the Iran Nuclear Deal that Donald Trump left in doubt after pulling out from it and reinstating sanctions on Iran.
As the case was these sanctions led to Iranian funds being frozen in South Korean banks which in turn caused tensions between Iran and South Korea, which appears to have now culminated in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seizing a South Korean flagged tanker off the coast of Oman in the Strait of Hormuz, such tactics have been used previously by the country to flex its regional strength and to get the attention of country’s that they are quarreling with. The IRG claims that the seizure was specifically due to the vessel polluting the water with chemicals, although this is highly unlikely the true reason.
Currently $7bn of Iranian funds are being held in South Korean banks which Iran claims it needs to buy equipment and vaccines to fight the coronavirus pandemic. But South Korea has refused to relinquish the funds to Iran for this request, despite the sanctions not covering medicine, but it is feared Iran will use the money instead to break rules of the US sanctions.
The Deputy Foreign Minister from South Korea will be visiting Tehran, Iran’s capital, and so it is thought by some that the seizure of the tanker may well be used as a negotiating chip.
It is also wondered by many if Trump will do something drastic against Iran, using the increased enrichment of uranium as a reason, before leaving office, possibly leaving an even larger crisis to the Biden administration. It is also possible that Israel, a strong rival of Iran in the region, could possibly also act militarily against Iran for such a breach on enrichment as well.
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