LONDON (Reuters) – The UK government said on Wednesday that massive swaths of England would be under the strictest COVID-19 restrictions as a highly contagious variant of the virus engulfs the country and pushes the number of cases to record levels.
Britain reported nearly 40,000 new infections as the mutated variant of the coronavirus, which could be up to 70% more transmissible than the original, is increasing the number of cases and hospital admissions.
The number of deaths recorded – 744 – was also the highest figure since April.
“Against this backdrop of increasing infections, increasing hospitalizations and an increasing number of people dying from the coronavirus, it is imperative that we take action,” Health Minister Matt Hancock told a news conference. “We just can’t have the kind of Christmas we all crave.”
On Saturday, tough social blending measures were put in place for London, South East England and Wales, while plans to lighten curbs across the country during Christmas were either drastically scaled back or scrapped altogether.
Hancock said as of December 26 that many more parts of southern England would also be added to the highest level of social mixing restrictions, joining the 16 million already in Tier 4, while other areas in the country that are currently in lower levels, will also be tighter curbs.
The governments in Scotland and Northern Ireland have already announced that almost everyone living in those countries will be subject to the most severe restrictions after Christmas.
Hancock said there were an average of 1,909 COVID hospital admissions per day, with 18,943 people currently in hospital with the coronavirus, levels not seen since the peak of the initial outbreak in April.
Reporting by Kate Holton and Guy Faulconbridge, written by Michael Holden, edited by Elizabeth Piper and Toby Chopra