UK PM warns COVID-19 lockdown may get tougher

London: Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Sunday warned that the current tiered system of lockdown to arrest the spread of COVID-19 may have to be toughened further as the UK grapples with the new strain of the Coronavirus.

As teachers' unions have been calling for a countrywide closure of all schools for a few weeks due to the rapid spread of the new variation, Johnson insisted that parents should send their children to school from Monday in the areas where they remain open as the threat to young kids from the deadly virus is very small.

However, he admitted that even stricter restrictions for the wider public may be on their way in the coming weeks as the Coronavirus cases in the country jumped by 57,725 this weekend, taking the death toll close to 75,000.

"Alas, restrictions may be about to get tougher," Johnson told the BBC, when asked about the lockdown.

"It may be that we need to do things in the next few weeks that may be tougher. I'm fully reconciled to that. I think the whole country is fully reconciled to that. There are a range of tougher measures that we might have to take."