The UK is imposing new blockades to curb the new Covid-19 tension

The new blockade means many families will not be able to get together for Christmas. Johnson, who a few days ago noted that it would be “inhumane” to curb the celebration of Christmas, said: “It is with a very heavy heart that I must tell you that we cannot continue with Christmas as planned.”

The new restrictions cover the capital, as well as much of the south-east and east of England. In London, the new strain of the virus accounted for 62% of new cases identified between week and Wednesday.

Similar measures have been taken across Europe to counter the rise in cases. In Italy, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Friday announced a total nationwide closure for the first time since May that will be in effect over Christmas, from December 24 to January 6.

In and around London, non-essential shops have to close and people have to stay home from midnight on Saturday, with limited exceptions for some types of work and essential shopping, Johnson said. Places of worship will remain open.

Families are forbidden to mix Christmas and people are forbidden to visit other regions, in an effort to prevent the strain from being planted elsewhere in the country.

“When the virus changes its method of attack, we have to change our method of defense,” Johnson said.

In the rest of England, Scotland and Wales, households will only be able to mix on Christmas Day instead of a five-day period the government had previously announced.

The nation reported 27,052 new infections daily on Saturday, bringing the total number of known cases in Britain to more than 2 million. There are currently nearly 19,000 people hospitalized with Covid-19, and the country has recorded more than 400 deaths a day on average over the past seven days.

The UK became earlier this month the first Western country to start vaccinating people with a clinically approved vaccine. Johnson said 350,000 people had now been shot. This compares to more than 137,000 on December 15th.

The country reported on Monday its discovery of the new strain and has already notified the World Health Organization.

Scientists have identified about 23 differences in their genetic material compared to established strains. These include changes in areas that are known to be associated with the way the virus binds and enters cells, which could explain why it spreads more quickly, said Patrick Vallance, chief scientific advisor. of the United Kingdom government.

He said it has already become the dominant strain in some parts of England, displacing older variants. “This virus takes off, moves quickly, and inevitably leads to a sharp increase in hospital admissions,” he said.

The scientists also said that increasing the transmissibility of the strain could increase the R number, or the average number of people each person with the infection becomes infected, by 0.4 or more. The latest estimate for R across the UK is 1.1 to 1.2.

UK officials said it is unclear where the variant originated, although it was possibly in the south-eastern country of Kent, bordering London, or whether it is present abroad. They said its virulence could explain why restrictions that have been effective in other parts of the country to reduce case rates had not done so in Kent.

They said precautions should be taken to curb the spread of the virus, such as staying two meters from people, wearing a face mask and washing their hands frequently.

Viruses replicate quickly and mutations are common due to small errors in copying genetic material, which can build up over time, resulting in new variants that may behave slightly differently than older strains.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, scientists around the world have been tracking these genetic changes. To date, more than 1,000 variants of the virus causing Covid-19 have been detected.

The new variant is not the first time a more transmissible strain has emerged. In July, scientists described a variant that over time displaced an older strain of coronavirus to make it the dominant strain of the global pandemic. Experiments showed that this variant, known as G614, replicated more rapidly, but appeared to be so susceptible to antibodies that target the previous strain and were not associated with more serious disease.

Meanwhile, much of the new wave in Europe originated in outbreaks of agricultural workers living in tight conditions in the Spanish regions of Catalonia and Aragon. Researchers from Switzerland and Spain identified a variant known as 20A.EU1 that from there spread to nearby cities and throughout Europe through the return of tourists.

In Italy, where the government reported 674 deaths from Covid-19 on Friday, the worst-hit areas are the northern regions of Lombardy, Veneto and Piedmont. But the southern region of Campania, which includes the city of Naples, is now one of the five most affected regions.

A maximum of two guests will be allowed in all households in Italy during the period, but the limit will not apply to children under 14 years of age. Bars, restaurants and non-essential shops will remain closed. A curfew will continue to be applied from 22 to 05 hours.

Unlike the spring period in Italy, churches will remain open, albeit with limited capacity subject to social distances.

Elsewhere in Europe, Germany and the Netherlands have imposed closures over Christmas and Austria said on Friday that non-essential businesses will close from 26 December.

—Francis X. Rocca in Rome contributed to this article.

Write to Jason Douglas to [email protected]