Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Saturday the re-containment of London and the south-east of England as of Sunday, in order to stem a rise in cases of Covid-19 infections. A blow to the Christmas reunion justified by the circulation of a new variant of the coronavirus.
Faced with the resurgence of the Covid-19 epidemic across the Channel, the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, had to resolve, Saturday, December 19, to reinstate lockdown in London and the south-east of England from Sunday. This decision just before Christmas reunion was partly justified by the appearance of a new strain of the coronavirus.
“It appears that this spread is now being fueled by a new strain of the virus,” which is transmitted “much more easily”, “up to 70% more,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said at a press conference .
“There is no indication that it is more deadly or that it causes a more severe form of the disease”
Or that it reduces the effectiveness of vaccines, he added, however.
Already subject to stringent restrictions, residents of the capital and south-east England will be placed under a new level of alert, the fourth and highest.
They will be instructed to stay home and non-essential businesses will no longer be able to reopen after lowering the curtain on Saturday, putting an end to last-minute Christmas shopping.
Pubs, restaurants and museums had already closed there on Wednesday, a little over two weeks after the release in early December of a second one-month confinement in England.
All travel outside of this area, whether to go elsewhere in the UK or abroad, will be prohibited.
Rejected a few days ago by Boris Johnson, a strict turn of the screw is also given to the release which was planned to allow up to three households to meet for five days around Christmas.
Now all gatherings are banned for Christmas in the highest alert level, while the reunion will have to focus on a single day, December 25, in the others.
“It is with a heavy heart that I must tell you that we can not let Christmas unfold as planned”, explained Boris Johnson, assuring that he had “no choice”.
For the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan,
the capital is facing the “hardest Christmas since the war”.
The UK has informed the World Health Organization (WHO) of the faster spread of the new strain.
Previous mutations of SARS-CoV-2 have already been observed and reported worldwide.
