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[사진 = 연합뉴스] When a coronavirus strain was reported in the UK, it was less than a week until Christmas, all of Europe was in emergency.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson held a press conference on the 19th (local time) and announced that he would carry out the fourth stage of the Corona 19 response only in parts of England, England. The British government, recognizing the seriousness of the Corona 19 variant, has recently established a fourth step, which goes beyond the previous three best response steps. Prime Minister Johnson said that day: “I cannot spend Christmas as planned” and said: “I am very much looking forward to announcing this measure.”
The measure covers all of London, southeastern England as Kent, Buckingham and Berkshire, and eastern England as Luton and Hertfordshire. It applies immediately from 0 o’clock on the 20th, the BBC said.
Accordingly, all non-essential businesses, gyms, and beauty salons are prohibited from operating.
A home evacuation order is recommended for company workers, excluding those where company work is unavoidable, and only one person can meet with members of other households, either indoors or outdoors. The action of the “bubble (group) of the three houses”, which was initially scheduled to be temporarily alleviated by the British government at the end of the year, was also reduced to one day on Christmas Day. The British government decided to apply such a strong blockade for two weeks before deciding whether it would last 30 days. British Health Minister Matt Hancock said in a media interview on the 20th, referring to the government’s emergency response, “Unfortunately (the mutant virus) was out of control.” “There is a long way to go to solve this problem,” he predicted. “It will be very difficult to control until the vaccine is released.”
As the spread is not that serious, neighboring countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, etc. are putting up a barrier, such as temporarily blocking flights from the UK. According to Reuters, the Dutch government said it would ban all flights leaving the UK from January 20 to 1 next year. It strongly recommended that its citizens refrain from unnecessary travel to the UK.
Belgium has declared that it will block trains and flights from the UK. Prime Minister Alexander Dirkro said in a media interview on the same day that the measure is expected to last 24 hours first.
The German government is also known to be considering restricting flights from the UK to prevent the spread of the virus. The German news agency DPA quoted a senior government official as saying the move is considered a “serious option.”
The biggest concern in European countries regarding the variant of the virus is the speed of spread much faster than that of the existing virus. The spike protein of the virus has been mutated so that it can more easily penetrate human cells. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 19th that the strain, called ‘VUI-202012/01’, has 70% more infectivity than the previous analysis.
However, this strain was not found to have a higher mortality rate or to weaken the efficacy of the vaccine.
Sir Patrick Balances, the UK government’s chief scientific adviser, explained that 62% of confirmed corona19 cases in London for a week from 9 this month were due to variants.
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