The prime minister announced on Saturday that London and the south-east of England, where cases are on the rise, will enter level 4 restrictions on Sunday, similar to a blockade.
“The spread is caused by the new variant of the virus,” Johnson said in a hastily named news conference. “It seems to spread more easily and can be up to 70% more transmissible than the previous strain.”
“It’s spreading very fast now,” Johnson warned. “With a very heavy heart I say that we cannot continue Christmas as we planned.”
Johnson stressed that in the areas under the harshest restrictions, there will be no possibility of mixing the Christmas household. In areas below level 3, the mixture will now be limited to Christmas Day.
Level 4 alert restrictions will be in effect in Wales starting at midnight, Prime Minister Mark Drakeford said on Saturday, meaning “festive bubbles” could only form on Christmas Day, PA said. Mediate. According to alert level 4, people have to stay home, except for very limited purposes, and do not have to meet with other households or meet people they do not live with, while many companies have to close.
Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Saturday that a strict Christmas travel ban would be enforced north of the border, warning that people in Scotland should not visit other parts of the UK and vice versa.
“To reduce the risk of more coronavirus strains being imported into Scotland, we intend to maintain a strict travel ban between Scotland and the rest of the UK,” Sturgeon said.
Meanwhile, the harshest level of coronavirus restrictions will apply across mainland Scotland for three weeks from Boxing Day, she added.
No changes to the restrictions in Northern Ireland have been announced yet.
Critics point to Johnson’s handling of the pandemic
Over the past week, Johnson has reiterated his commitment to relax the rules over Christmas, allowing up to three households to mingle for five days. However, as of Saturday, the entire nation is required not to travel, and those with the highest level of restrictions will not be allowed to travel abroad except for work purposes.
Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition Labor Party, criticized the government’s handling of the crisis, saying: “Many people will be disturbed by the news that their Christmas plans are being destroyed.
“I am really frustrated because I raised this with the Prime Minister on Wednesday and he rejected it. He continued to tell people to have a ‘happy little Christmas’ just three days later to repeat his plans.” , he told Sky News.
Experts are urgently seeking clarity on the new strain of the virus
According to Whitty, the new variant is responsible for 60% of infections in London, which have almost doubled in the last week.
Earlier, he said that “urgent work” was being done to determine whether the new strain, spread in the south-east of England, could cause a higher mortality rate.
“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,” Whitty said in a statement.
As with other new variants or strains of Covid-19, it has a genetic footprint that makes it easy to track and happens to be one that is now common. This does not mean that the mutation has made it easier to spread, nor does it necessarily mean that this variation is more dangerous.
Several experts in the genetics and epidemiology of viruses find that it could only be a “lucky” strain that has been amplified due to a spreading event; it could be the mutation that somehow makes it spread more easily without causing more serious illness; or it could just be accidental.
The government’s scientific advisory group for Covid-19 also warned that the new strain was a “real cause for concern” and called for urgent action. On Twitter, Jeremy Farrar said: “Research is underway to understand more, but urgent action is now essential. There is no part of the UK and the world that is not concerned. As in many countries “The situation is fragile.”
Whitty also asked people to take more precautions. “Given this latest development, it is now more vital than ever for the public to continue to act in their area to reduce transmission,” he said.