At a hastily convened press conference on Saturday, Johnson said the new variant appeared to be “up to 70% more transmissible” and that he was responsible for a significant increase in cases in London and the south-east of England. . Those areas would now be placed under a higher form of blocking, Johnson said.
Restrictions are the latest interruption of the Christmas holidays in the shadow of the pandemic. As winter descends through the northern hemisphere, governments from Asia to Europe have tightened rules on social distancing and reintroduced blocking measures to counter the rise in Covid-19 cases. The discovery of the new variant has deepened concerns that major restrictions will now continue for many years to come.
Outside the UK, the new variant has already been identified in Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands and Australia.
Australian health authorities said two cases of the quarantine variant managed in Sydney had been found, while the Italian Ministry of Health reported on Sunday that a patient had been infected with the variant and placed isolated in Rome.
All viruses mutate over time and new variants are a common occurrence, including the new coronavirus. A variant similar to the one identified in the UK has also been identified in South Africa, where scientists say it is spreading rapidly across the country’s coastal areas.
What do we know about the new variant?
British medical director Chris Whitty warned on Saturday that the new UK variant “could spread more quickly” and is responsible for 60% of infections in the capital, which have almost doubled in just the last week.
Whitty warned that there is currently no evidence to indicate that the new variant is more lethal or neutralizes the effectiveness of recently approved vaccines. However, a more easily spread virus could cause more cases, which in turn could lead to more hospitalizations and potentially more deaths. Even with a vaccine, this could make controlling the spread of the virus much less manageable.
Crawling backwards through genetic evidence suggests that the new UK variant emerged in September and then circulated at very low levels in the population until mid-November, according to England Public Health (EPH).
“The increase in cases related to the new variant first appeared in late November, when PHE was investigating why infection rates were not lowering in Kent despite national restrictions. We then discovered a cluster related to this variant that spread rapidly to London and Essex “. said the agency.
Several experts have suggested that this new variant may have been amplified due to an overextension event; the mutation may somehow make it spread more easily without causing more serious illness; or it could have been by chance.
EPH scientists have not yet identified the exact mechanism for the likely increase in transmission, although normally a mutation in the ear protein, the part of the virus that binds to host cells, can increase its transmissibility. , the agency said.
Travel restrictions
As of Monday, dozens of countries in Europe, the Middle East and the Americas had announced travel bans for the UK. Others, such as Greece and Spain, have imposed restrictions that force travelers arriving from Britain to undergo coronavirus or quarantine testing.
In South America, Argentina, Chile and Colombia have suspended direct flights to and from the UK, and El Salvador has banned any entry from the country from Britain.
Hong Kong became the first place in Asia to restrict British travelers on Monday, stopping all UK passenger flights from Tuesday and banning the arrival in the city of all passengers who stayed more than two hours in the UK. UK in the last 14 days.
In the Middle East, flights from the United Kingdom to Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Israel were banned.
And across Europe, countries have closed their borders to travelers from the UK, including the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Italy, France, Sweden, Luxembourg, the Republic of Ireland, Estonia and the Czech Republic.
The 48-hour ban on all travel from the UK imposed by France from midnight on Sunday has been particularly disturbing, as it includes freight trucks traveling through the Eurotunnel under the English Channel. The port of Dover, on the south coast of England, announced on Sunday night that its ferry terminal was “closed to all accompanied traffic leaving the UK until further notice due to border restrictions in France “.
Monday’s emergency meeting of UK government officials is expected to focus on international restrictions, and “in particular, the steady flow of goods into and out of the UK,” the prime minister’s spokesman said. on CNN. “More meetings are being held tonight and tomorrow morning to ensure there are robust plans,” the spokesman added.
On Monday, UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps tried to allay fears about food disruptions, saying the Dover Eurotunnel in Calais only accounts for 20% of goods entering and leaving the country. .
“It’s not the mainstay, most goods go in and out in unaccompanied containers and will continue to circulate,” he said.
CNN’s Amy Woodyatt, Taylor Barnes and Tara John contributed to the report.