LONDON (Reuters) – London and the south-east of England may remain under narrower strips for some time to curb a new rapidly spreading coronavirus strain, the British Health Minister said on Sunday, as COVID cases -19 increased by a record number over one day.
The government faced criticism for abruptly dismissing plans to ease Christmas restrictions and impose an effective closure on more than 16 million people. Health Minister Matt Hancock defended the decision, saying evidence showing the new strain was causing spiraling cases had forced the action.
The variant, which officials say is up to 70% more transmissible than the original, also sparked concerns about wider dissemination. Several European countries, including Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium, said they were taking steps to prevent people from arriving from Britain, including bans on flights and trains.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson tore up plans to allow three homes to be mixed indoors for five days over the holiday season and imposed new Level 4 limits, similar to a national closure in March, London and the United States. southeast of England.
Hancock suggested that tougher measures, which require a third of England’s population to stay home, except for essential reasons such as work, could remain in place until vaccines are more widespread.
“We have a lot left to go through,” Hancock told Sky News.
“Basically we have to deploy this vaccine to keep people safe. Given the speed with which this new variant is spreading, it will be very difficult to keep it under control until we implement the vaccine. “
Britain began inoculating people using the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech earlier this month.
The number of cases in Britain rose on Sunday by 35,928, the highest daily rise since the start of the pandemic, and recorded 326 deaths, bringing the official number to more than 67,000.
ALARM BELLS
Opposition Labor leader Keir Starmer told a news conference that while he supported the new measures, “once again, the prime minister waited until 11am to take action. this decision.
“Alarms have been sounding for weeks, but the prime minister chose to ignore them … He told the country to have a merry Christmas … and yet, three days later, he told millions of families that they tore them “flat,” he said, referring to comments Johnson made Wednesday.
Shortly after Johnson announced the changes on Saturday afternoon, some Londoners were heading to train stations to try to travel to see relatives over Christmas, and there were crowded scenes, which Hancock described as “totally irresponsible “.
The new rules went into effect Sunday.
Transport Minister Grant Shapps called on people under the new restrictions not to travel and said more transport police were being deployed to ensure that “only those who need essential travel can travel safely” .
The other nations of the United Kingdom, whose response to the pandemic differs from that of England, also took action. Scotland imposed a travel ban on the rest of the UK, effectively closing the border, and its Christmas relaxation will be limited to 25 December only.
All of Wales will enter level 4 from midnight, but two homes can be mixed on Christmas Day.
Non-essential retail stores, as well as places like gyms and hairdressing salons, were ordered to close in the Level 4 areas and some businesses called the new measures a “real dent”.
Hancock said the government acknowledged that the economic impact of the new measures would be “serious”, but that it had to weigh this against the health consequences.
The United States is monitoring the new strain in Britain, several U.S. officials said, adding that it was unclear whether the mutated variant had been targeted in America.
Other countries have also identified a new variant of the coronavirus, including South Africa.
An epidemiologist at the University of Basel in Switzerland, Emma Hodcroft, said on Twitter that the strains in Britain and South Africa were not the same.
Additional reports from Michael Shields in Zurich; Edited by John Stonestreet and Frances Kerry