British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

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Heathcliff O'Malley / AP / SIPA

Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned on Sunday that tougher restrictions could be decided in England to combat the rapid spread of the new coronavirus, attributed in part to a new variant of the virus.

The UK is one of the most bereaved countries in Europe by the virus, with 74,570 dead.

In the space of 24 hours, an additional 57,725 people tested positive for the virus, according to the latest official data released on Saturday.

"We may have to do things in the coming weeks which will be more difficult in several parts of the country," Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the BBC.

He added that closing schools, a measure taken in late March during the first wave of the pandemic, "is one of those things."

Even though the conservative leader has declared the education of children a "priority", he stressed the need to recognize "the impact of the new variant of the virus".

Each of the four constituent nations of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland) decides on its strategy for the fight against the virus.

Already a million Britons vaccinated

Three quarters of the population has so far been reconfigured and the start of the school year postponed for some students, especially in London and in the south-east of England, particularly affected by the rise in cases.

In areas where schools are open, Boris Johnson encouraged parents to send their children there, stressing that they were "safe" there.

"The risk for children and young people is very, very low," he said.

From Monday, the vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and the AstraZeneca group will be administered in the United Kingdom.

A total of 530,000 doses are available as of Monday, and tens of millions of doses should be available by the end of March, the United Kingdom having ordered a total of 100 million doses.

More than a million people in the UK have already received a dose of the vaccine from the US-German alliance Pfizer / BioNtech, deployed since December 8.

For both vaccines, two doses should be injected.

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