Buyers on Regent Street in London on December 15th.
Photographer: Daniel Leal-Olivas / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: Daniel Leal-Olivas / AFP / Getty Images
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UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock has warned that the new strain of coronavirus is “out of control” and has suggested that parts of England will be blocked in the new highest level of restrictions until a vaccine is launched.
More than 16 million Britons are forced to stay at home after a blockade in London and the south-east of England came into force on Sunday and the government has canceled plans to relax the rules of socializing at Christmas.
Control measures of the new variant of the rapid spread of the virus prohibit the mixing of households in those areas and limit socialization to only Christmas in the rest of England. Residents across the country were told to stay in their local areas, and additional police were deployed at stations to stop people from traveling from London.
“The cases have absolutely started, so we have a long way to go,” Hancock told Sky News. “I think it will be very difficult to keep it under control until the vaccine is released.” People in the new level 4 areas “should behave as if they had,” he said.
Hancock said 350,000 people had been vaccinated since Saturday morning, with the ambition of reaching 500,000 by the end of the weekend.
Johnson had initially intended to ease the pandemic rules for five days during the holidays, but made a sudden change of approach after emergency talks with the virus mutation with officials.
Emerging scientific evidence suggests that the new variant – which Hancock said has also appeared in Australia and mainland Europe – may spread much faster than previous strains in circulation and is behind the rise in infections in recent days.
“We are committed, not knowing that there will be a new option that will spread much faster,” Hancock said of the initial plans. He said there was “no evidence” that the new strain – VUI-202012/01 – was lighter than the original virus.
Maria Van Kerkhove, Covid-19 technical director at the World Health Organization, told the BBC’s Andrew Andrew program: “We understand that the virus does not cause more severe diseases.”
Call for resignation
The videos broadcast on social networks showed the trains in London on Saturday night.
Transportation Secretary Grant Shapps said in a statement that more transport police will be deployed to stop people making unnecessary trips from the capital. Hancock said Shapps is examining compensation payments for canceled tickets.
Lisa Nandy, of the Labor Party’s opposition, said the change in policy was “a perfect example” of Johnson’s “making a promise he knew he couldn’t keep at Christmas.”
“I think we have this continuous battery from the government,” Nandy told Andrew Marr.
Charles Walker, a member of Johnson’s Conservative party, told the Sunday Telegraph that Hancock should resign. Another Conservative MP, Mark Harper, who is a group opposed to the blockade, urged the government to convene MPs on their holiday so that anti-virus measures could be voted on.
Hancock said a vote would be held in January.
(Adds the WHO expert’s comment to the ninth paragraph and calls for Hancock’s resignation in 14.)