Shoppers on Regent Street in London on December 15th.
Photographer: Daniel Leal-Olivas / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: Daniel Leal-Olivas / AFP / Getty Images
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UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock warned that the new mutant strain of the coronavirus is “out of control” and suggested parts of England are stuck in the new highest level of restrictions until a vaccine is rolled out.
More than 16 million Britons now have to stay at home as a lockdown took effect in London and South East England on Sunday and the government scrapped plans to relax the rules for socializing at Christmas in an attempt to spread the fast-spreading new variant of the virus.
The measures prohibit the mixing of households in the capital and the Southeast, and limit socializing to Christmas Day only in the rest of England. Residents across the country were told to stick to their surroundings.
“Business has skyrocketed, so we have a long way to go,” Hancock told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on the Sunday program. “I think it will be very difficult to control until the vaccine is rolled out.” People in the new so-called Tier 4 areas “should act like they have it,” he said.
Johnson had originally planned to relax the pandemic rules for five days over the holidays, but made an abrupt change of direction after emergency talks about the virus mutation with his top officials. Emerging scientific evidence suggests that the new variety – which Hancock says has also appeared in Australia and continental Europe – may spread significantly faster than previous strains in circulation and is behind a massive wave of infections in recent days.
Most Sunday papers contain stories of people giving up Christmas plans. Conservative MP Mark Harper, who represents a caucus opposing lockdown measures, urged the government to call lawmakers out of vacation so that a vote can be taken.
Hancock said there will be a vote in January.
“We made the commitment not knowing there would be a new variant that will spread so much faster,” Hancock said of the original plans. He said there is “no evidence” that the new strain – VUI-202012/01 – is milder than the original virus.
Hancock said 350,000 people had been vaccinated as of Saturday morning, with the ambition to reach 500,000 people by the end of the weekend.