LONDON, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- The British government unveiled Tuesday a 4.6-billion-pound (about 6.24 billion U.S. dollars) new grant to support businesses through the latest COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.
The retail, hospitality and leisure businesses are expected to receive one-off grants worth up to 9,000 pounds (about 12,213 dollars) per property until the Spring, and is expected to benefit more than 600,000 business properties, worth 4 billion pounds (about 5.42 billion dollars) in total across Britain, said the British Treasury in a statement.
Additionally, a further 594 million pounds (about 806 million dollars) is available for local authorities and the devolved administrations to support other impacted businesses not eligible for the grants, said the statement.
British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said new strains of coronavirus have posed "a huge challenge" to the country, and the British government has to "tighten restrictions further".
"Today we're announcing a further cash injection to support businesses and jobs until the Spring," said Sunak, adding that it will support firms to get through the months ahead and "crucially it will help sustain jobs".
Commenting on the new grants, Adam Marshall, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said "while this immediate cash flow support for business is welcome, it is not going to be enough to save many firms."
"We need to see a clear support package for the whole of 2021, not just another incremental intervention," Marshall added.
Marshall said the funds "must be sufficient to cover not just those on the front line of retail, hospitality and leisure, but also firms in supply chains and wider business communities who are also feeling the devastating impacts of these restrictions."
Meanwhile, Frances O'Grady, general secretary of the British Trades Union Congress, tweeted that "this package for retail and hospitality is a first step, but working people need support too."
"Ministers must urgently boost sick pay so that people can afford to self-isolate. And permanently increase universal credit," said O'Grady, adding that "it's not a choice between lives & livelihoods."
The new grants came after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Monday that England will enter a national lockdown from midnight, the third of its kind since the COVID-19 pandemic began in the country.
Under the lockdown, people are only allowed to go to work if it is impossible to work from home, such as construction workers.
Britons are allowed to go out to shop for necessities including food and medicines, and to exercise, ideally once a day and locally.
All schools and colleges will close from Tuesday (except for vulnerable children and those of key workers), and switch to remote learning until the middle of February.
Britain on Monday started the national rollout of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.
According to information released by the World Health Organization on Dec. 29, 2020, a total of 232 candidate vaccines are still being developed worldwide -- 60 of them in clinical trials -- in countries including Germany, China, Russia, Britain and the United States. Enditem
