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Millions of Britons have been suddenly forced to file holiday plans, but how did we get here?
When Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke to the nation less than a week before Christmas Day, to deliver the difficult news that even stricter restrictions They were on their way to London and much of the South East, statistics showing that he had few options.
A new and apparently more infectious variant of the coronavirus, known as VUI 2020/01, which was thought to have originated in London or Kent in September, is behind the move.
In November, it accounted for 28% of new infections in the region. By early December, that had risen to 60%.
The new COVID variant has increased rapidly
There have been more than 1,000 confirmed cases of the new strain, mainly in southern England. But the exact locations have not been revealed.
One of the other factors that pushed the government and its advisers to the christmas change of direction were the R (reproduction) rate statistics.
Controlling the reproductive rate of the disease is crucial to prevent the NHS from being overwhelmed
Since early December, the rate of R has risen from just under 1, which means infection rates are largely under control, to over 1.2, which means that an infected person on average will transmit the disease to 12 other people.
On top of that, the proportion of the new coronavirus variant is increasing.
Johnson also revealed that the new strain was 70% more transmissible, which has been identified as a possible reason why the November lockdown and subsequent Level 3 measures failed to control the virus in Kent.
The new COVID variant has increased rapidly
One of the most striking graphs at Saturday’s press conference was one showing that case rates in areas moving to Level 4 are higher than in England overall, and continuing to rise.
The data presented on Saturday is against the backdrop of UK case rates over the past two weeks which have risen by more than 50%.
Over the past two weeks, overall case rates in the UK have increased by more than 50%.
The UK now has second highest number of confirmed deaths from coronavirus in Europe.
Saturday’s figures showed 534 more deaths in the 28 days after a positive COVID-19 test, bringing the national total to 67,075.
