LONDON (AP) – Millions in the UK on Saturday faced harsh restrictions on coronavirus, with Scotland and Northern Ireland demanding tighter measures to try to stop a new variant of the virus believed to be spreading faster.
Northern Ireland was closed for six weeks and in Wales the restrictions that were relaxed during Christmas Day were also re-imposed.
The number of people under the highest level of restrictions in England – Level 4 – rose by 6 million on Saturday to 24 million people in general, around 43% of the population of England. The region included London and many of its surrounding areas.
Household indoor mixing is not allowed and only essential displacement is allowed. Gyms, swimming pools, hairdressers and shops selling non-essential items have been ordered to close and pubs and restaurants can only be taken away. Business groups claim the restrictions will be economically devastating for their members.
Another 570 deaths were reported daily by COVID-19, bringing the total death toll in Britain to 70,195, the second worst death toll in Europe after Italy. Britain also reported more than 32,700 new cases of the disease on Christmas Day.
Fears about the new UK variant have sparked a week of border chaos. Around 1,000 British soldiers spent Christmas Day trying to clear a huge build-up of trucks trapped in the south-east of England after France briefly closed the border with the UK and demanded coronavirus testing from all drivers.
But British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said on Saturday that more than 15,000 drivers had been tested and that a test site at Manston airport had been cleared on Sunday morning. Only 36 positive tests had been reported, he said on Twitter.
“THANK YOU very much to everyone who has worked tirelessly over the last few days to reduce the huge disruption caused by the sudden closure of the French border,” Shapps tweeted.
The first cases of the new variant of the United Kingdom have been detected in France and Spain. A French man living in England arrived in France on Dec. 19 and tested positive for the new variant on Friday, the French public health agency said. He has no symptoms and is isolated at home in the central city of Tours.
Meanwhile, health authorities in the Madrid region said they had confirmed the UK variant in four people, all in good health. Regional Health Chief Enrique Ruiz Escudero said the new strain had arrived when an infected person flew to Madrid airport.
In her annual Christmas speech, Queen Elizabeth II, who has spent much of the year isolating herself at Windsor Castle with her husband, Prince Philip, sent a sincere message of hope praising “l ‘indomitable spirit’ of those who have faced the challenges ‘magnificently’. of the pandemic.
The 94-year-old queen and her husband, Prince Philip, 99, set an example for not visiting relatives as usual during Christmas.
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