The United Kingdom imposed severe restrictions on the coronavirus on millions of people on Saturday, at the request of the authorities of Scotland and Northern Ireland for tougher measures to try to stop a new variant of the virus that is thought to be spreading faster. .
Northern Ireland started with a six-week lockdown, while in Wales the restrictions relaxed before Christmas were re-imposed.
The number of people below the maximum level of restrictions in England – level 4 – rose by six million on Saturday to about 24 million in total, about 43% of the country’s population. The region included London and surrounding areas.
The authorities have banned meetings between people from different households and non-essential travel. Gyms, swimming pools, hair salons and non-essential department stores have been forced to close, while bars and restaurants can only offer takeout. Business groups noted that the restrictions will be financially devastating for their members.
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Another 570 deaths from COVID-19 in a 24-hour period were reported Saturday, bringing the total in Britain to 70,195, the second-worst in Europe – only after Italy. Britain also reported more than 32,700 new cases of the virus at Christmas.
Fear of the new British variant has caused a week of chaos at the border. About 1,000 British soldiers spent Christmas trying to clear a huge backlog of stranded trucks in South East England after France briefly closed its border with the UK and demanded negative coronavirus test results from all drivers.
But British transportation secretary Grant Shapps said on Saturday that more than 15,000 drivers had undergone the tests and that the delay at the Manston Airport test site was resolved by Sunday morning. Only 36 positive cases of those tests were reported, he noted on Twitter.
The first cases of the new British variant of the virus have now been discovered in France and Spain.