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Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Saturday that millions must cancel Christmas plans and stay home.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Image: AFP
LONDON – British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Sunday the government imposed a strict Christmas blockade on London and south-east England because a new strain of the coronavirus was “out of control”.
Hancock warned that the strict measures affecting almost a third of England’s population could be maintained until the virus vaccine is fully implemented.
“We acted very quickly and decisively,” Hancock told Sky News, justifying the “stay home” order, the ban on family gatherings at Christmas and the closure of non-essential stores.
“Unfortunately, the new strain was out of control. We have to control it.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Saturday that millions must cancel Christmas plans and stay home because the new strain is spreading much more rapidly.
Some 16.4 million people entered the stricter “level four” measures since Sunday, or 31 percent of England’s population.
They are not allowed to hold family gatherings for Christmas, while in the rest of the country households can mix only on Christmas Day.
The London Metropolitan Police said it would take action against those who “make reckless decisions that risk lives.”
Other regions of the UK have also tightened their anti-virus measures in response.
Wales introduced a strict blockade from Sunday, while Scotland banned travel to and from other UK regions for Christmas. Both Scotland and Northern Ireland will enter new lockdowns on December 26.
Hancock told Sky News that the situation was “deadly serious.”
“It’s going to be very difficult to keep it under control until we have the vaccine,” he said, adding: “This is what we will face in the coming months.”
The UK expects to hit half a million vaccinations by the weekend, the Health Minister said.
Scientists first discovered the new variant in a patient in September, Susan Hopkins of Public Health England told Sky News.
She said scientists in November found the new strain was behind a cluster of cases in Kent and was spreading to London and Essex and reported to the government on December 11.
Public Health England then notified the government again on Friday when modeling revealed the full severity of the new strain, it said.
She confirmed Johnson’s figure that the new strain of the virus could be 70 percent more transmissible and said this was an initial figure.
“I think 70 percent seems like a good number to land on right now,” he said.
The virus has been found in all regions of England, but in small numbers, Hopkins said.
Hancock said cases have also been identified in Australia and Europe.
Patrick Vallance, the government’s top scientific adviser, said Saturday that the new strain “contains 23 different changes,” including the way the virus attaches itself to human cells and enters cells.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan told Sky News that London now has the same number of patients hospitalized with the virus as it did during the peak of the first wave in April. Cases have also increased rapidly among people ages 10 to 19, he said.
Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, told the weekly Observer that “if this new variant is behind the increase in this age group, then that is a big concern.”
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