The time has come for general mobilization in the United Kingdom, the country hardest hit in Europe by the coronavirus, with more than 106,000 dead. British health authorities launched, Monday 1er February, a massive tracing operation in eight areas of England. Cases of the coronavirus variant that appeared in South Africa have been detected there, some unrelated to any travel. In total, the regions concerned (parts of London, the West Midlands, the East, the South East and the North West) represent a population of around 80,000 people.
Since December 22, 105 cases of this variant likely to be more contagious, against which some of the current vaccines seem less effective, have been detected, according to the British Department of Health. In recent days, eleven cases have been identified without any link to a trip can be established.
“It is vital that we do everything we can to stop the transmission of this variant”Health Minister Matt Hancock said in a statement calling on all those living in the affected areas to get tested, whether or not they show symptoms.
Mandatory quarantine
Since the detection of the first cases of this variant in the United Kingdom at the end of December, the government has banned all direct air links from South Africa and closed its borders to arrivals from around thirty countries deemed at risk. To these restrictions will soon be added the imposition of a compulsory quarantine at the hotel for travelers from these countries to whom entry into British territory could not be refused.
Already confronted with a more contagious variant which has led to an outbreak of the epidemic and a third confinement, the United Kingdom intends to fight against the importation of new variants that are more transmissible and against which current vaccines would be less effective.
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