President Donald Trump had a bone to pick with the United Kingdom, which just announced a new lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Daily Mail, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced in late December that the country would be going into a Tier 4 lockdown, the highest level of the country’s COVID-19 alert system. In response to that news, Trump took to Twitter to criticize the move, saying that the cure can’t be worse than the problem.
At the time, Johnson announced strict coronavirus safety measures that would involve the country’s 18 million citizens. Under Tier 4, all non-essential businesses must close and residents were tasked with staying home until Dec. 30, at which point they would review the situation (it was recently announced that these lockdown measures would be in place until at least mid-February of this year). The news about the United Kingdom’s lockdown came amid a surge in coronavirus cases. Doctors believe that this surge is being fueled by a fast-moving and new strain of the coronavirus. As the Daily Mail pointed out, while they may be dealing with a new strain, it is not believed to be more deadly than the original.
Videos by PopCulture.com
On Twitter, Trump expressed that the United States would not be following suit with increased lockdown measures. He wrote, “We don’t want to have lockdowns. The cure cannot be worse than the problem itself!” The president has frequently shared that he does not support another lockdown in the country, as he is concerned about the economy and struggling businesses. Several weeks after Prime Minister Johnson announced another lockdown for the United Kingdom, he once again said that the country would be going into a full lockdown following the New Year.
The country will now go into a full national coronavirus lockdown until at least mid-February, as Johnson announced on Monday. According to Business Insider, this means that schools will be closed and citizens will be required to stay in their homes. Additionally, household mixing indoors will be banned and only essential businesses will remain open. Johnson stated, “I want to say to everyone right across the UK that I know how tough this is, and I know how frustrated you are, and I know that you’ve had more than enough of government guidance about defeating this virus. But now, more than ever, we must pull together.”
