UK's Johnson warns lockdown, not vaccines, behind drop in COVID deaths

LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned on Tuesday that the rapid drop in COVID-19 deaths was largely down to a three-month lockdown, not the vaccination programme, and that cases would rise once again as restrictions ease.

The United Kingdom launched its inoculation drive in December and has already offered a first shot to all over-50s, the clinically vulnerable and health workers. The country is behind only Israel in the proportion of its population to have received at least one dose. That rollout was however followed a month later by a third lockdown in early January to tackle surging infections driven by the "Kent" variant of the virus. Since February, daily infection numbers, hospitalisations and deaths have all dropped sharply.