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LONDON: British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Sunday (December 20) that the government imposed a strict Christmas lockdown on London and south-east England because a new strain of the coronavirus was “out of control”.
Hancock warned that strict measures 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 and the closure of non-essential shops that affect around a third of England’s population.
“Unfortunately, the new strain was out of control. We have to control it.”
READ: WHO says in close contact with UK officials about new variant of COVID-19 virus
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 suggested that the stricter measures, which require around a third of England’s population to stay at home except for essential reasons like work, could be maintained until vaccines become more available.
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.
It turned out that scientists first discovered the new variant in a patient in September.
Susan Hopkins of Public Health England told Sky News that the agency notified the government on Friday when modeling revealed the full severity of the new strain.
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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.
Shortly after Johnson told the nation of the changes, some in London headed to the capital’s train stations to try to travel to see relatives over Christmas, and there were scenes of overcrowding, something Hancock called ” totally irresponsible. “
He also said the government acknowledged that the economic impact of the new measures would be “severe” after the Confederation of British Industry called them “a real kick in the teeth” for many companies.
But speaking on the BBC, Hancock said a new national lockdown “was not necessarily” inevitable to stop the increase in cases.
“One of the reasons we incorporated strict travel movements into Level 4 … is to try and stop the spread of this new variant,” he told the “Andrew Marr Show.”
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.”
PM ‘SCARED’
The dire situation drew widespread criticism of the prime minister for vowing last week not to “cancel Christmas.”
“Not much was understood about this mutant virus. But that uncertainty should have been enough for the prime minister to see that it was time to suspend Christmas,” wrote the weekly The Sunday Mirror.
Labor leader Keir Starmer said in a video statement: “We have a prime minister who is so afraid of being unpopular that he is unable to make difficult decisions until it is too late.”
Some Londoners backed the lockdown measures.
“Look, I think it’s the right move at the moment,” Marcel Hadula said.
“We don’t want to overwhelm the NHS, because if we do that, how can we effectively treat everyone who comes in contact with this new strain of the COVID-19 virus?”
But Chiara Morreale said her family members are likely to break the lockdown rules during Christmas.
“On Christmas (day) there is a good chance that my aunt and my uncle will get closer,” he said.
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