LONDON – England Medical Director Chris Whitty confirmed on Saturday that a new strain of coronavirus that has appeared in the country could spread faster and called for greater public vigilance to reduce transmission.
Whitty said London had informed the World Health Organization of its findings. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced an order to “stay home” for London and the south-east of England to slow down the new strain.
The new strain of the virus “seems to be transmitted much more easily,” Johnson said in a televised briefing. He ordered new restrictions for London and the south-east of England on Sunday, saying that under the new “level four” rules, “people in these areas must stay at home” at least until 30 December.
Get the daily edition of the Times of Israel by email and never miss our top stories Sign up for free
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Monday that scientists had identified a “new variant” in the south of England that could cause the spread of infections faster.
Whitty said: “As a result of the rapid spread of the new variant, preliminary modeling data and the rapidly increasing incidence rate in the south-east, [experts advising the government] now consider that the new strain can spread faster.
“We have alerted the World Health Organization,” he said, adding: “There is no current evidence to suggest that the new strain causes a higher mortality rate or that it affects vaccines and treatments, although urgent work is being done to confirm this thing”.
A worker cleans a bus stop near Piccadilly Circus in central London on 18 December 2020. (Tolga Akmen / AFP)
Whitty warned that the new evidence made it “more vital than ever” that the public did everything they could to reduce transmission.
On Friday, 28,507 new positive daily tests were reported by the British government. Cases last week rose 40.9% from a week earlier.
More than 1.98 million people tested positive for coornavirus in the UK.
People in Wales and Northern Ireland are ready to enter new blockades after Christmas.
Johnson declined to rule out a new blockade in England, saying on Friday: “We very much hope we can avoid such a thing.”
“But the reality is that infection rates have gone up a lot in the last few weeks,” he said.
Times of Israel staff contributed to the report.