Six months after a national lockdown was imposed to curb the coronavirus pandemic, the UK is again at what a senior English medical officer calls a “tipping point”. A second wave of infection threatens to run out of control. It is a measure of the deterioration that chancellor Rishi Sunak was forced to announce new job support measures on Friday, only two weeks after a previous package. Tighter virus restrictions set to be announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday, particularly in northern England and the Midlands, are unavoidable. It is an indictment of his government, however, that half a year after the first shutdown, crucial parts of its antivirus approach are still malfunctioning.
為遏制新型冠狀病毒大流行而實(shí)施全國(guó)封鎖6個(gè)月后，英國(guó)再次處于該國(guó)一位高級(jí)衛(wèi)生官員所說的“臨界點(diǎn)”。第二波感染有失控的危險(xiǎn)。財(cái)政大臣里希?蘇納克(Rishi Sunak)被迫在上周五宣布了新的就業(yè)支持措施，而上次支持計(jì)劃出臺(tái)僅兩周，這表明形勢(shì)惡化的程度。不可避免地，英國(guó)首相鮑里斯?約翰遜(Boris Johnson)將于周一宣布更嚴(yán)格的病疫情防控措施，尤其是在英格蘭北部和中部地區(qū)。然而，其抗疫舉措的關(guān)鍵部分在首次實(shí)施封鎖半年后仍然無法正常運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)，這是對(duì)其政府的控訴。