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The nation’s Christmas plans were thrown into chaos last night after Boris Johnson drastically abandoned his attempts to bypass tighter Covid restrictions and instead placed millions of people under new lockdown measures to try to stop a new highly infectious strain of virus.
In a major U-turn that prompted an immediate backlash from his party, the prime minister placed a third of England’s population under new level 4 restrictions to counter a strain of Covid that is believed to be up to 70% more transmittable. than previous variants.
It means that people in a swath of the south east and east of England and London will not be able to mingle with other households during Christmas. A stay-at-home message will be enshrined in law and non-essential shops will be closed, as well as covered entertainment and entertainment venues. The measures will be reviewed in two weeks and a significant policing is being planned for New Year’s Eve.
In the rest of the country, plans for five-day Christmas bubbles for up to three households have been slashed. The rules will now only cover Christmas Day in England, with Johnson urging that all meetings be kept short and small.
Speaking from number 10 on Saturday night, the prime minister said that without action “infections would skyrocket, hospitals would be overwhelmed and many thousands more would lose their lives.” He added: “Yes, Christmas this year will be different, very different. We are sacrificing the opportunity to see our loved ones for a better chance of protecting their lives and being able to see them next Christmas. “
Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, urged anyone packing a suitcase ready to leave Level 4: “Please unpack.” He said the rate of hospital admissions in areas where the variant was prominent was increasing rapidly, and that Level 3 measures could not stem the increase in cases. He said that anyone traveling despite his advice was creating “a significant risk” of spreading the new strain.
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s prime minister, yesterday introduced a travel ban between Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom, which will remain in effect through Christmas. The law will be amended to allow domestic mixing of a maximum of eight people on Christmas Day alone. Wales laid out their plans for tighter Level 4 restrictions and also restricted Christmas bubbles to Christmas Day. Mark Drakeford, the Welsh Prime Minister, warned that the evidence suggested that the new Covid strain was “present throughout Wales”.
Anyone within England’s level 4 should not spend the night away from home, and anyone living elsewhere is advised not to enter a level 4 area. Those under the new measures can still travel for education and exercise , or work if they cannot work from home. One person can meet another outside in a public space. Bubbles of support for the vulnerable remain in place.
The chief ministers met on Friday to discuss the discovery of the new strain of Covid-19, and a new cabinet meeting was held on Saturday to agree on the new measures, which will take effect from 00.01 a.m.
The decision to rethink Christmas plans comes days after Johnson accused Labor leader Keir Starmer of wanting to “cancel Christmas” after he demanded tougher restrictions. There was anger among the Conservative MPs last night. Mark Harper, chairman of the Covid Recovery Group, called for a vote in parliament. “Increasingly severe staggered lockdowns and restrictions have failed in their goal of slowing down the transmission of Covid. And now the government hopes that people will sacrifice the opportunity to share Christmas with family, friends and loved ones, just days after promising otherwise. “
Ministers acted after 60% of infections in London emerged as a result of the new strain of the virus. There was also concern that Kent’s cases were not included in the Tier 3 measures. While the variant is believed to be more infectious, there is no evidence that it has a higher death rate, or causes more serious illness, or vaccine resistant.
Scientists warned that the tough new measures may eventually have to be rolled out across the country. “We must remember that this strain increased rapidly during the last lockdown,” said Professor John Edmunds, a member of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group. “To prevent it from spreading, we will have to impose even stricter restrictions. The virus is likely to have spread much more than in the South East, so action will need to be taken across large parts of the UK to have the desired effect. “
Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, told the Observer that the rapid spread of a new genetic variant of the Covid-19 virus had “hampered the works” in terms of containing its spread. “We don’t know enough yet, but what worries me is that this new variant appeared at a time and place where the number of cases was increasing rapidly in secondary school children, mainly in London and the South East. If this new variant is behind the increase in this age group, then that is a big concern. “
Professor Ravindra Gupta, from the University of Cambridge, urged that vaccines be changed to target the highest risk regions. “The variant has a number of worrisome mutations that mean that we must control transmission through social restrictions as we work to learn more about the impact of these mutations on how the virus behaves. We should seriously consider regional targeting of the vaccine.”
Last night’s move follows protests by doctors over earlier plans for more relaxed Christmas bubbles. Thousands of front-line physicians raised the alarm about the five-day mixing rules. When asked about their concerns about the impact of the proposed relaxation, 65% of doctors said they were “extremely concerned”, according to a survey of doctors by the British Medical Association. Thousands responded to the survey. Two-fifths said they were unsure of their department’s ability to deal with Covid patients this winter. NHS chiefs warned this weekend about the impact on the health service during the Christmas period. “We’ve talked about a perfect storm,” said Chris Hopson, director of NHS Providers. “I certainly feel like we’re probably headed toward that, and in many places we’ve reached the leading edge of that storm.”
