United Kingdom | London is rebuilding itself, a new variant of the more transmissible coronavirus

Martin Powell
France Media Agency

“The outbreak now seems to be fueling a new variant of the virus, which will be transmitted” very easily, “” up to 70%, “Prime Minister Boris Johnson told a news conference.

“There are no indications that it is more malignant or that it causes a more severe form of the disease,” he said, adding that it could reduce the effectiveness of vaccines.

Already subject to strict sanctions, residents in the capital and southeast of England will be placed on a new level of alert, the fourth and highest. After closing the Christmas shopping at the last minute and closing the screen on Saturday, they are advised to stay home and unwanted businesses will no longer be reopened.

Pubs, restaurants and museums were already closed there on Wednesday, the second one-month detention in England two weeks after their release in early December.

All travel outside the area, in the UK or abroad is prohibited.

This tough turn of the screw was rejected by Boris Johnson a few days ago. In contrast, a relaxation was planned to meet the three homes for five days around Christmas.

Now all meetings are banned at the highest warning level for Christmas, the reunion should focus on December 25, the same day.

“With a heavy heart, I must tell you that we can not part with Christmas as planned,” Boris Johnson explained, assuring him that “there is no other way.”

Health officials said they had informed the UK World Health Organization (WHO) that the new species was spreading rapidly.

Previous mutations of SARS-CoV-2 have already been observed and reported worldwide.

The “dominant” form

According to government scientific adviser Patrick Valens, this new variant is “spreading fast”, but it is also becoming a “dominant” form.

This variant, which is found in London or Kent (southeast) in mid-September, causes 62% of the pollution recorded in London in December and 43% in the southeast, against 28% in mid-November, he stressed.

There are 23 changes in the new variant, “an unusually large number”, most “associated with changes in the virus-causing protein”. However, he assured that scientists believe the vaccines continue to provide an “appropriate” response.

European countries, including Italy, were the hardest hit, with more than 67,000 people killed. The entry of two million registered cases crossed Saturday.

In total, 38 million people in England, or 68% of the population, already live under very strict restrictions, such as the closure of pubs, restaurants and museums, as well as a ban on homes that meet exemptions.

Helen Dickinson, Patron of the British Retail Consortium, British Federation of Traders, warned that “the consequences of this decision are serious.”

“Before […] It is likely to lose ఉంది 2 billion a week in sales for the third time this year, with many businesses in dire straits and thousands of jobs threatened, ”she said, calling for additional financial assistance from the government.

As in England, the container is kept in Wales on Sunday, a week earlier than expected. Northern Ireland will be redefined after Christmas. Every country in the UK decides its own strategy in the face of a health crisis.

There has been a lot of criticism since the outbreak of crisis management, with the Boris Johnson government launching a campaign on December 8 to wager on vaccines on a large scale, primarily targeting the elderly and caregivers.

Following the Pfizer-Bioemtech vaccine, the British Medicines Agency (MHRA) is expected to approve a second vaccine on December 28 or 29, developed by the Astrogenica Laboratory with the University of Oxford, The Telegraph newspaper.