Buyers on Regent Street, London, on December 15th.
Photographer: Daniel Leal-Olivas / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: Daniel Leal-Olivas / AFP / Getty Images
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UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock warned that the new strain of the coronavirus is “out of control” and suggested that parts of England will be trapped in the new highest level of restrictions until a vaccine is deployed. .
More than 16 million Britons are now required to stay home after a closure came into force on Sunday in London and the south-east of England and the government rejected plans to relax socializing rules for Christmas.
Measures to control the rapidly spreading new variant of the virus prohibit the mixing of households in these areas and restrict socialization only on Christmas Day in the rest of England. Residents across the country were told to stay in their local areas and additional police were deployed at railway stations to prevent people from leaving London.
“The cases have skyrocketed absolutely, so we have a long way to go,” Hancock told Sky News. “I think it will be very difficult to keep it under control until the vaccine has been spread.” People in the new level 4 areas “should behave as if they had it,” he said.
Hancock said 350,000 people had been vaccinated as of Saturday morning, with the ambition of reaching 500,000 by the end of the weekend.
Johnson had initially planned to ease the rules of the pandemic for five days during the holidays, but made an abrupt change of spot after emergency talks about the virus mutation with officials.
Emerging scientific evidence suggests that the new variant – which according to Hancock has also appeared in Australia and continental Europe – may spread significantly faster than previous strains in circulation and is behind the rise in infections in recent days.
“We made the commitment without knowing that there would be a new variant that would spread much faster,” Hancock said, about the original plans. He said there is no “evidence” that the new strain, VUI-202012/01, is softer than the original virus.
Maria Van Kerkhove, chief technician for the World Health Organization’s Covid-19, told the BBC’s Andrew Marr: “We understand that the virus does not cause more serious illnesses.”
Call for resignation
Videos shared on social media showed a train crash outside London on Saturday evening.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said in a statement that more transport police will be deployed to prevent people from making unnecessary trips outside the capital. Hancock said Shapps is examining compensation for canceled tickets.
Lisa Nandy, of the opposition Labor party, said the policy change is “a perfect example” of Johnson “making a promise he knew he could not keep Christmas”.
“I think we have that drum beat going on in government,” Nandy told Andrew Marr.
Charles Walker, a lawmaker in Johnson’s Conservative party, told the Sunday Telegraph that Hancock should resign. Another Conservative MP, Mark Harper, who represents a group that opposes the blocking measures, urged the government to convene lawmakers on their holidays so that votes can be put on toughened measures of the virus.
Hancock said a vote will take place in January.
(He adds a comment from the WHO expert on the ninth paragraph, and calls for Hancock to resign on the 14th.)