Speaking in a hurry at a news conference on Saturday, Johnson said the new variant appears to be “70% more transmissible” and is responsible for a significant increase in cases in London and south-east England. These areas would now be placed in an increased form of blockade, Johnson said.
Restrictions are the latest disruption to a pandemic-overshadowed Christmas holiday. As winter descends into the northern hemisphere, Asian governments in Europe have tightened social distancing rules and reintroduced lock-in measures to counter the rise in Covid-19 cases. The discovery of the new variant has deepened concerns about major restrictions that will continue for a long time in the new year.
Outside the United Kingdom, the new variant has already been identified in Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands and Australia.
Australian health authorities said two cases of the variant were found in quarantine in Sydney, while the Italian Ministry of Health reported on Sunday that a patient had been infected with the variant and placed in isolation in Rome.
All viruses move over time and new variants are a common occurrence, including for the new coronavirus. A variant similar to the one identified in the UK has also been identified in South Africa, where scientists say it is spreading rapidly along the country’s coastal areas.
What do we know about the new version?
England’s medical director Chris Whitty warned on Saturday that the new variant in the UK “can spread faster” and is responsible for 60% of infections in the capital, which have almost doubled in just the last week.
Whitty warned that there is currently no evidence to suggest that the new variant is more lethal or would neutralize the effectiveness of the newly approved vaccines. However, a virus that spreads more easily could lead to more cases, which in turn could lead to more hospitalizations and potentially more deaths. Even with a vaccine, this could make controlling the spread of the virus much less manageable.
The follow-up using genetic evidence suggests that the new British variant appeared in September and then circulated at very low levels in the population until mid-November, according to England Public Health (EPH).
“The increase in cases related to the new variant came to light in late November, when PHE was investigating why Kent infection rates were not falling despite national restrictions. We then discovered a group related to this variant spreading rapidly in London and Essex.” . said the agency.
Several experts have suggested that this new variant could have been amplified due to an over-spreading event; it could be the mutation that somehow makes it spread more easily without causing more serious illness; or it could have been accidental.
EPH scientists have not yet identified the exact mechanism for the likely increase in transmission, although usually a mutation in the spike protein, the part of the virus that attaches to host cells, can increase its transmissibility, the agency said.
Travel restrictions
As of Monday, dozens of countries in Europe, the Middle East and America have announced travel bans for the UK. Others, such as Greece and Spain, have imposed restrictions on travelers arriving from the UK to undergo coronavirus or quarantine testing.
In South America, Argentina, Chile and Colombia have suspended all direct flights to and from the UK, and El Salvador has banned anyone from entering the UK.
Hong Kong became the first Asian city to restrict British travel on Monday, stopping all UK passenger flights on Tuesday and banning all passengers who have stayed in the UK for more than two hours in the last 14 days after arriving in the city.
In the Middle East, flights from the UK have been banned in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Israel.
Across Europe, countries have closed their borders to travel from the UK, including the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Italy, France, Sweden, Luxembourg, the Republic of Ireland, Estonia and the Czech Republic.
The 48-hour ban on all travel in the UK, imposed by France since midnight on Sunday, has been particularly disruptive, as it includes freight trucks traveling through the Eurotunnel under the English Channel. The port of Dover on the south coast of England announced on Sunday evening that its ferry terminal had been “closed for all escorted traffic leaving the UK until further notice due to border restrictions in France”.
Monday’s emergency meeting of British government officials is expected to focus on international restrictions and “especially on the steady flow of goods to and from the UK,” the prime minister’s spokesman told CNN. “Other meetings are taking place tonight and tomorrow morning to make sure there are solid plans,” the spokesman added.
On Monday, UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps tried to allay fears of a food shortage, saying the Dover to Calais Eurotunnel accounted for only about 20% of goods entering and leaving the country.
“It’s not the mainstay, most goods go in and out in unaccompanied containers and they will continue to flow,” he said.
CNN’s Amy Woodyatt, Taylor Barnes and Tara John contributed to the reporting.