* PM Johnson announces tougher restrictions
* New measures come into force from midnight
* UK first to roll out AstraZeneca vaccine
* 82-year-old dialysis patient is first to get shot
* UK hails British scientific 'triumph'
* Concerns grow over South African variant
(Updates with Johnson address)
By William Schomberg and Elizabeth Piper
LONDON, Jan 4 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris
Johnson on Monday ordered England into a new national lockdown
to try to slow a surge in COVID-19 cases that threatens to
overwhelm parts of the health system before a vaccine programme
reaches a critical mass.
Johnson said a new, more contagious variant of the
coronavirus was spreading at great speed and urgent action was
needed to slow it down.
"As I speak to you tonight, our hospitals are under more
pressure from COVID than any time since the start of the
pandemic," Johnson said in a televised address to the country as
he ditched his regional approach to fighting the pandemic.
"With most of the country already under extreme measures,
it's clear that we need to do more together to bring this new
variant under control.
"We must therefore go into a national lockdown, which is
tough enough to contain this variant. That means the government
is once again instructing you to stay at home."
Johnson said the measures would include school closures from
Tuesday and rules requiring most people to stay at home apart
from essential shopping, exercise and other limited exceptions.
He said that if the timetable of the vaccination programme
went as planned and the number of cases and deaths responded to
the lockdown measures as expected, it should be possible to
start moving out of lockdown by the middle of February.
However, he urged caution about the timetable.
NEW VACCINE LAUNCHED
As Britain grapples with the world's sixth highest death
toll and cases hit a new high, the country's chief medical
officers said the spread of COVID-19 risked overwhelming parts
of the health system within 21 days.
The surge in cases has been driven by the new variant of
COVID-19, officials say, and while they acknowledge that the
pandemic is spreading more quickly than expected, they say there
is also light at the end of the tunnel - vaccinations.
Johnson's government earlier touted a scientific "triumph"
as Britain became the first country in the world to start
vaccinating its population with Oxford University and
AstraZeneca's COVID-19 shot.
Dialysis patient Brian Pinker on Monday received the first
vaccination outside of a trial.
"I am so pleased to be getting the COVID vaccine today and
really proud that it is one that was invented in Oxford," said
the 82-year-old retired maintenance manager, just a few hundred
metres from where the vaccine was developed.
But even with the vaccines being rolled out, the number of
COVID-19 cases and deaths keep rising.
More than 75,000 people in the United Kingdom have died from
COVID-19 within 28 days of a positive test since the start of
the pandemic. A record 58,784 new cases of the coronavirus were
reported on Monday.
Moving a few hours ahead of Johnson, Scottish First Minister
Nicola Sturgeon imposed the most stringent lockdown for Scotland
since last spring.
The devolved administration in Wales said all schools and
colleges there should move to online learning until Jan. 18.
(Additional reporting by Estelle Shirbon, Alistair Smout and
Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Gareth Jones)