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.
为遏制新型冠状病毒大流行而实施全国封锁6个月后，英国再次处于该国一位高级卫生官员所说的“临界点”。第二波感染有失控的危险。财政大臣里希•苏纳克(Rishi Sunak)被迫在上周五宣布了新的就业支持措施，而上次支持计划出台仅两周，这表明形势恶化的程度。不可避免地，英国首相鲍里斯•约翰逊(Boris Johnson)将于周一宣布更严格的病疫情防控措施，尤其是在英格兰北部和中部地区。然而，其抗疫举措的关键部分在首次实施封锁半年后仍然无法正常运转，这是对其政府的控诉。