The British government decided from Sunday to refine London and the south-east of England, dealing a heavy blow to the Christmas gatherings, to try to stop a rise in infections from a new strain of the coronavirus.
“It appears that this spread is being fueled by a new variant of the virus,” which is “much more easily transmitted,” the prime minister said at a news conference. “There is nothing to indicate that it is more deadly or that it causes a more serious form of the disease” or that it decreases the effectiveness of vaccines, he added.
The residents of the capital and the south-east of England, already subject to significant restrictions, will be subject to a new level of warning, the fourth and highest. They will have to stay at home and businesses that are considered “non-essential” will not be able to open. Last minute Christmas shopping must be done next Saturday at the latest.
The pubs, restaurants and museums in those two neighborhoods have been closed since last weekend.
All movements outside that area, both within the national territory and to go abroad, will be prohibited.
In the areas covered by the maximum warning, meetings should not be held between members of different households, and in the rest of the areas, they should be held in one day.
“It is with great regret to tell you that we cannot make Christmas go as planned,” explained Boris Johnson, assuring he had “no choice” and calling on the British to “sacrifice an opportunity to our loved ones. this Christmas for better protect them and see them at the next Christmas parties ”.
London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, faces the capital’s “most difficult Christmas since the war”.
The United Kingdom has informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about the faster spread of the new species, health authorities said.
Other SARS-CoV-2 mutations have been detected in other parts of the world.
– Towards the approval of the second vaccine –
The United Kingdom is the country in Europe most affected by the pandemic, along with Italy, with more than 67,000 dead. The threshold of 2 million cases was crossed on Saturday.
In total, about 38 million people in England – that is, 68% of the population – were already living under strict restrictions, such as the closure of pubs, restaurants and museums, and were subject to the prohibition of meeting people who did not live together, except exceptions.
In the United Kingdom, where each country is setting its own strategy in the light of the health crisis, a lockdown will also be instituted in Wales from Sunday, just over a week ahead of schedule.
Scotland also tightened measures, announcing a lockdown on Saturday from the day after Christmas, the only day for families to reunite. In addition, the holidays were extended to January 11. Northern Ireland will be reconfigured immediately after Christmas.
The director of Boris Johnson, highly criticized for his management of the crisis since the outbreak of the pandemic, has opted for vaccination and launched a campaign targeting the elderly and health professionals on December 8.
After approving the administration of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the British Medicines Agency (MHRA) should approve a second vaccine on Dec. 28 or 29, developed by the AstraZeneca laboratory with the University of Oxford, the paper said. The Telegraph.