The British government has decided to reconfine London and the south-east of England from Sunday, giving a heavy blow to Christmas meetings, in an attempt to stop the growth of infections attributed to a new strain of coronavirus.
“It seems that this spread is fueled by a new variant of the virus,” which is being transmitted “much more easily,” the prime minister said at a news conference. “There is no indication that it is more deadly or causes a more severe form of the disease,” or that it reduces the effectiveness of vaccines, he added.
Residents of the capital and the south-east of England, already under severe restrictions, will be subject to a new level of alert, the fourth and highest. They will have to stay at home, and businesses considered “non-essential” will not be able to open. Last minute Christmas shopping will have to be done by Saturday at the latest.
Pubs, restaurants and museums in the two areas were closed last weekend.
All movements outside that area, either on national territory or to go abroad, will be prohibited.
In the areas covered by the maximum alert, meetings between members of different households cannot be organized, and in the rest of the areas they will have to take place in one day.
“It is with great regret that I have to tell you that we cannot allow Christmas to go as planned,” Boris Johnson said, assuring that “he has no choice” and urged the British to “sacrifice the opportunity to see them.” love your loved ones better this Christmas and so you can see them in the next Christmas parties ”.
For London Mayor Sadiq Khan, the capital is facing “the hardest Christmas since the war”.
The United Kingdom has informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about the faster spread of the new strain, health officials 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 over 67,000 deaths. The threshold of 2 million cases was exceeded on Saturday.
In total, some 38 million people in England – or 68% of the population – were already living under strict restrictions, such as closing pubs, restaurants and museums and being banned from meeting people who do not live together, with except for exceptions.
In the United Kingdom, where each nation is defining its own strategy in the face of the health crisis, a deadlock will be set in Wales on Sunday, just over a week before the deadline.
Scotland has also tightened measures and announced a blockade on Saturday that begins the day after Christmas, which will be the only day families can reunite. In addition, the holidays were extended until January 11. Northern Ireland will be reconfigured immediately after Christmas.
Boris Johnson’s executive, widely criticized for managing the pandemic crisis, has opted for vaccination, launching a campaign on December 8 that, in its first phase, focuses on the elderly and health care workers.
After approving the administration of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the British Medicines Agency (MHRA) should approve, on December 28 or 29, a second vaccine, developed by the AstraZeneca laboratory together with the University of Oxford, according to the Telegraful newspaper.