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Days after saying that it would be “inhuman” to cancel the Christmas plans that were planned, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson did just that. The flaw lies in a new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes covid-19, which is becoming the dominant variant in the UK.
“We cannot continue with Christmas as planned,” said Boris Johnson, at a press conference this afternoon. On that occasion, he announced that the London region and South East England will pass a level 4 restriction (the maximum so far was level 3).
It is in these areas where this variant is especially present, which spreads faster than the previous ones, being 70% more contagious, although it is already spread throughout almost the entire country.
“There is no evidence that it causes more serious illness or higher mortality, but it seems to pass between people much faster,” the prime minister said. “There is no evidence to suggest that it is more lethal,” he says, or that the vaccine will be less effective. “But we already know enough to know that we have to act,” he says, introducing new restrictions.
The latest assessment by British authorities points to 27,052 additional cases of invite-19 in the past 24 hours, slightly less than the day before, but another 534 deaths.
Thus, as of Sunday, London and parts of the southeast of the country will enter level 4 restrictions, in practice equivalent to the confinement that already existed. People should not leave home, except in the usual exceptions, and should, if possible, opt for teleworking. Non-essential commerce will be closed, as will gyms.
People should not leave their area of residence and will not be allowed to leave the country, except in specific cases.
The indications that existed so far for Christmas was that a “bubble” could form with up to three households, lasting up to five days. Now, within level four, it will not be possible to live outside the home and, outside that level, only with another and only for one day.
“When the virus changes its way of attack, we, as a country, have to change our defense”, said Boris Johnson, given the fact that a few days ago he said that he did not want to change the Christmas plans of the British, considering that it would be “inhumane”.
“When the facts change, we have to change our approach,” said the British prime minister, lamenting people who have to change their Christmas plans. Boris Johnson had been under pressure for a week to step up the measures, but had refused.
According to experts, the new variant of the virus is different by 23 points, including the protein that the virus creates and the way it binds to cells.
First detected in mid-September, it accounted for 28% of the cases reported in mid-November in London and south-east England. But, in the week of December 9, it already represented more than 60% of cases in the capital..
“The new variant is becoming the dominant variant,” said Patrick Vallance, the UK government’s top covid-19 adviser.
Regardless, Britain’s Health Director-General Professor Chris Whitty said he did not consider this to be the worst moment of the pandemic. “Although we have to do everything possible to stop the transmission of this variant, we have a vaccine,” he said. “At the end of March and April, not only were the numbers increasing rapidly, mortality was high and there was no vaccine on the horizon,” he recalled.
According to Boris Johnson, 350,000 people have already received the first dose of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine in the UK.
The measures now announced will be reviewed within 15 days, said the British prime minister, asking people not to break the rules.
And he said “I deeply regret” that these measures are necessary, saying that he hopes that the fact that it is not possible to spend this Christmas with the family, means that the next ones can be spent.
The prime minister recalls that all British people have to assume they are infected, as only one in three infected people have symptoms.
The authorities are calling for a Christmas with as few people as possible, as short and as local as possible, remembering that risk groups are still risk groups and must be protected even more.
