UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the UK is in an “incomparably better” position than this time last year due to the British public’s “heroic” response to the mass COVID-19 vaccination campaign.
In a New Year video message posted on Twitter, Johnson said: “Whatever the challenges that fate continues to throw in our way and whatever the anxieties we may have about the weeks and months ahead, particularly about Omicron and the growing numbers in hospitals, we can say one thing with certainty: our position this Dec. 31 is incomparably better than last year.”
He said the UK has been able to “maintain the most open economy and society of any major European economy” because the British people have “responded heroically, voluntarily, and in almost incredible numbers to the call to get vaccinated.”
Johnson said his government has met the target and has “doubled the speed of the booster roll-out,” and “it’s precisely because of that huge national effort that we can celebrate tonight at all.”
But the Labour Mayor of London Sadiq Khan cancelled the traditional fireworks display beside the River Thames and a live event in Trafalgar Square, citing the surge of the new Omicron variant.
The Scottish National Party administration in Scotland and the Labour government in Wales have adopted more stringent measures, closing nightclubs and imposing limits on events, resulting in the cancellation of New Year’s Eve celebrations.
