The British government dealt a knockout blow to the Christmas reunion on Saturday, December 19, by imposing new restrictions. It was the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, who was responsible for bringing the bad news, announcing at a press conference the reconfinement of London and the south-east of England on Sunday. And this barely more than two weeks after the partial deconfinement of December 3.
The United Kingdom has been facing a new outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic in recent days. “It seems that this spread is now being fueled by a new variant of [corona]virus’ SARS-CoV-2, which is transmitted “Much more easily”Boris Johnson explained. There is no evidence that the virus is now more deadly, or that it causes more severe forms of the disease, or that such a phenomenon reduces the effectiveness of vaccines, he added, however, while the vaccination campaign has just started in the United Kingdom.
Shops closed, travel strictly limited
Already subject to restrictive restrictions, the inhabitants of the capital (placed on maximum alert for several days) as well as those of the south-east of England will move to a higher stage of alert – level 4, the highest – , which Boris Johnson touted as the equivalent of the November lockdown. They will be instructed to stay at home, and non-essential businesses will no longer be able to reopen after lowering the curtain this Saturday, December 19, which cuts off last-minute Christmas shopping.
Areas currently in tier 3 in south-east England, including London, will enter tier 4 from tomorrow morning PM Bori… https://t.co/zEr1ZQZTKJ
All travel outside this area, whether to travel abroad or elsewhere on UK territory, will be prohibited. Pubs, restaurants and museums were already closed since last weekend.
“We cannot let Christmas go as planned”
It is therefore a strict turn of the screw (rejected here a few days yet by Mr. Johnson) which is given to the release initially planned during the Christmas period, and which was to allow three households at most to meet, over a period of not exceeding five days.
At present, all gatherings are banned for Christmas in areas with the highest alert level. Elsewhere in the country, on the other hand, reunions will be allowed, but they will have to be concentrated in a single day.
“It is with a heavy heart that I must tell you that we cannot let Christmas go as planned”, explained Boris Johnson, assuring not to have ” no choice “, and asking the British to “Sacrifice an opportunity to see those who [leur] are expensive this Christmas to better protect them, and thus be able to find them during the next Christmas holidays ”.
The United Kingdom has informed the World Health Organization (WHO) of the much faster pace at which the new strain is spreading, health authorities said. Previous mutations of SARS-CoV-2 had for their part already been observed and reported elsewhere in the world.
Along with Italy, the United Kingdom is the country in Europe hardest hit by Covid-19, which has caused more than 67,000 deaths on its soil. The threshold of two million recorded cases was also crossed this Saturday, December 19. Before England, Wales and Northern Ireland had already announced a re-containment of their populations immediately after Christmas – with each nation in the UK being free to develop their own strategy in response to the health crisis.
Our selection of articles on the coronavirus
