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 strain of the coronavirus “is getting out of hand” and suggested parts of England are stuck in the new, highest set of restrictions until a vaccine is rolled out.
More than 16 million Britons now have to stay at home after 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.
The measures to control the rapidly spreading new variant of the virus prohibit household mixing in those areas and limit socializing to only Christmas Day in the rest of England. Residents across the country were told to stick to their area and additional police were deployed at train stations to stop people traveling out of London.
“Business has skyrocketed, so we have a long way to go,” Hancock told Sky News. “I think it will be very difficult to control until the vaccine is rolled out.” People in the new Tier 4 areas “should act like they have it,” he said.
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.
Johnson had originally planned to ease the pandemic rules for five days over the holidays, but made an abrupt change of direction after emergency talks about the virus mutation with 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 the increase in infections in recent days.
“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.
Maria Van Kerkhove, Covid-19 technical chief at the World Health Organization, told BBC program Andrew Marr, “We understand the virus does not cause more serious illness.”
Call dismissal
Videos shared on social media showed a dash for trains from London on Saturday night.
Transportation Secretary Grant Shapps said in a statement that more transportation police will be deployed to prevent people from taking unnecessary trips out of the capital. Hancock said Shapps is investigating compensation payments for canceled tickets.
Lisa Nandy of the opposition Labor Party said the policy change is “a perfect example” of Johnson “making a promise he knew he could not keep by Christmas.”
“I think we have this ongoing dither drumbeat from the government,” Nandy told Andrew Marr.
Charles Walker, a lawmaker from Johnson’s Conservative Party, told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper that Hancock should resign. Another Tory 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 on the tougher virus measures.
Hancock said there will be a vote in January.
(Adds comment from WHO expert in ninth paragraph, calling on Hancock to step down in 14th place.)