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 Minister Matt Hancock has warned that the new mutant 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 as a blockade went into effect on Sunday in London and south-east England, and the government has canceled plans to relax Christmas socializing rules in a bid to control the new spread. rapid spread of the virus.
The measures prohibit the mixing of households in the capital and the south-east and limit socialization to Christmas only in the rest of England. Residents across the country were told to stay in their local areas.
“Cases have started, so we have a long way to go,” Hancock told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday. “I think it will be very difficult to keep it under control until the vaccine is released.” People in the new so-called level 4 areas “should behave as if they had,” he said.
Johnson had originally 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 mutated with his senior officials. Emerging scientific evidence suggests that the new variant – which Hancock said also appeared in Australia and mainland Europe – may spread much faster than previous strains in circulation and is behind a huge increase in infections in recent days.
Most Sunday newspapers ran stories about people canceling their Christmas plans. Conservative MP Mark Harper, who is a group opposed to the blockade, urged the government to convene MPs on their holiday so that a vote can take place.
Hancock said a vote would be held in January.
“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.
Hancock said 350,000 people had been vaccinated since Saturday morning, with the ambition of reaching 500,000 by the end of the weekend.