[News] Boris Johnson announces roadmap out of English lockdown

[Angel of Death]

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LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced what he called England's "journey back towards normality" Monday, drawing up a roadmap that could see most major restrictions lifted in June.The United Kingdom has one of the world's worst Covid-19 death rates and suffered more economic damage last year than almost any other country.Johnson has been accused of repeatedly imposing lockdowns too late and lifting them too early. But this time he has what he hopes will be a secret weapon: one of the world's most successful vaccination campaigns."The end really is in sight," he told the House of Commons. "A wretched year will give way to a spring and summer that will be very different and incomparably better than the picture we see around us today."He said that "the vaccination program has dramatically changed the odds in our favor and it is on that basis that we can proceed."Johnson oversees healthcare policy in England, and he said he had been in contact with the leaders in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, where similar measures will be announced.The leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland dictate their own health care policies, which have often differed slightly.The current restrictions were imposed Jan. 4, fueled at least in part by the new, more transmissible variant that is now sweeping the United States and elsewhere.For almost two months, British pubs, restaurants and nonessential shops have been closed, schools are closed for most students and offices are off-limits for many people, indoor and outdoor gatherings are prohibited, and foreign vacations are illegal.Though Johnson was initially reluctant to lock his country down, those close to him say that his attitude has hardened since then, perhaps motivated by his own brush with the virus, and his country's huge death toll.