British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has imposed a tighter set of coronavirus controls on millions of people in England, telling them to stay home, and drastically scaled back plans to ease restrictions over Christmas.
With the average number of cases in England soaring because of a new, significantly more contagious strain of the virus, Johnson said the government had to take urgent action.
“I know how much emotion people invest in this time of year … I know how disappointing this will be,” Johnson told a news conference on Saturday. “There is no alternative open to me.”
London and southeast England – with about a third of the English population – are currently in the highest level of a three-tier system of rules and will now be placed in a new Tier 4 level.
People will be required to stay at home except for essential reasons such as work, and non-essential retail will close, as will indoor leisure and entertainment. Social mixing will be limited to meeting one other person in an outdoor space.
A new strain of coronavirus is up to 70 percent more infectious but it is not thought to be more deadly and vaccines should still be effective, Johnson and scientists said.
“There’s no evidence that it causes more severe illness or higher mortality, but it does appear to be passed on significantly more easily,” Johnson said.
“Although there’s considerable uncertainty, it may be up to 70 percent more transmissible than the old variant, the original version of the disease. This is early data and it’s subject to review.”
“But it’s the best that we have at the moment and we have to act on information as we have it, because this is now spreading very fast.”
Johnson had said on Friday he hoped England would not need a third lockdown after Christmas. He had also resisted calls to change plans to ease restrictions for five days over the festive period and allow three separate households to meet indoors.
He said on Wednesday it would be “frankly inhuman” to ban Christmas.
However, those now in Tier 4 will not be allowed to mix with others over Christmas. And all others will now only be allowed to see friends and family for one day.
The new rules will come into effect from Saturday midnight.
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Con un annuncio ai cittadini il primo ministro Boris Johnson ha comunicato oggi il passaggio della capitale e delle zone sud ed est dell'Inghilterra a livello 4 di restrizioni, con un lockdown duro che durerà due settimane.
ReplyDeleteNiente ospiti a casa per i londinesi e coloro che vivono nelle zone est e sud dell'Inghilterra. Con le nuove misure annunciate oggi in una conferenza dal primo ministro Boris Johnson da domani sarà istituito un lockdown duro per due settimane.
In queste aree la popolazione dovrà rimanere a casa, ricorrendo il più possibile allo smart working. Rimarranno aperti solo i negozi essenziali.
"Il Natale non sarà come previsto" ha affermato Boris Johnson nel suo annuncio.
In queste aree il giorno di Natale non si potranno incontrare persone esterne al nucleo familiare. Nel resto del paese, la possibilità di riunire fino a tre famiglie sarà limitata al solo giorno di Natale, invece dei cinque giorni inizialmente previsti. Non vi sarà nessun allentamento delle regole per la sera di Capodanno.
DeleteNella giornata di oggi il professor Chris Whitty, direttore medico per l’Inghilterra, ha confermato che un nuovo ceppo di coronavirus scoperto in Inghilterra può diffondersi più rapidamente e ha avvertito l'Oms.
DeleteThe latest restrictions were made in response to a new variant of the coronavirus that reportedly spreads faster, though there is currently no indication that it is any more deadly or immune to vaccines.
DeleteJohnson claimed the new strain “may be up to 70 percent more transmissible than the old variant”, and that most cases of it have been recorded in those areas now under Tier 4 restrictions.
DeleteEl primer ministro del Reino Unido, Boris Johnson, anunció este sábado durante una rueda de prensa que la nueva variante de covid-19 recientemente detectada en el país puede ser "hasta un 70 % más transmisible" que la cepa original de la enfermedad.
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