LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has set out tougher measures to prevent the arrival of new variants of the *********** into England, confirming plans for a 10-day quarantine in hotels or other government-provided accommodation for travellers from high-risk countries.

He said discussions are taking place for the restrictions to apply in the other U.K. nations, too.

On Tuesday, the U.K. became the fifth country in the ***** to record more than 100,000 ***********-related ******. The U.K. is the smallest country to breach that threshold, and it has one of the *****’s ***** ********-related mortality rates.

Johnson has come under renewed **** for his handling of the ********, with many arguing that he has been too slow in making tough decisions and sidelined scientific advice, particularly in December when a new, more virulent, variant of the *********** was identified in London and the southeast of England.

Critics argue that one failure was not imposing a lockdown throughout England right after scientists informed him on Dec. 18 that the new variant was up to 70% more infectious than the original *********** strain.

The lockdown only came into force on Jan. 5, a delay that critics say fuelled the rapid increase in new *********** ********** around the turn of the year, and the subsequent acute pressure on hospitals and ******.

“Fifty thousand people have **** since Nov. 11 – 50,000 ****** in 77 days,” said Keir Starmer, the leader of the main opposition Labour Party. “In isolation, any of these mistakes are perhaps understandable. Taken together it’s a damning indictment of how the government has handled this ********.’’

Though there’s growing evidence to show that the lockdown is bringing down new cases, ********** are still running at relatively high levels and would be liable to rise sharply again if restrictions are relaxed too soon and too much.

SOURCE: The Associated Press