London, 9 million inhabitants, was out of national containment on December 2. Two weeks later, Wednesday December 16, at midnight, the British capital, as well as neighboring areas (in Essex and Hertfordshire), will pass in the “maximum alert” category set up by the government of Boris Johnson: it will be subjected, like much of northern England before it, to a hard semi-containment.
Pubs, bars, restaurants, cinemas, theaters and museums will again have to close (restaurants will be able to take out). “Non-essential” stores will remain open, as will schools, even if some confusion reigned in recent days, London boroughs, such as Greenwich (south-east of the capital), having asked all their schools to switch to online courses before the Christmas holidays, against government advice.
Otherwise, “People can only see people outside their ‘bubble’ outside. (…) It will also be necessary to avoid non-essential trips outside the maximum alert zone ”, UK Health Minister Matt Hancock added Monday, December 14, during a debate in the House of Commons. The figures are not good: after declining at the end of November, most likely thanks to a month of national confinement, infections and hospitalizations are on the rise, with 14% more positive cases over a week, and 13% of ‘additional hospitalizations over the same period.
London had been the epicenter of the epidemic during the first wave in the spring. Whole swathes of the country – the south-east, the south-west of England – had been almost completely spared. In the fall, however, the second wave swept through the north – spreading like wildfire in the university metropolises of Manchester, Liverpool or Newcasle, then contaminating the Midlands, a little further south. If the virus ebbs into these areas, it is now London, or Kent in the south-east, which is turning bright red.
“Caution” at Christmas
The government has been alerted by UK health authorities that a third wave is threatening in January 2021, if the relaxed Christmas rules are maintained (between December 23 and 27, travel restrictions will be lifted across the UK and three different households will be allowed to meet under the same roof). On Monday, Mr. Hancock contented himself with recommending ” prudence “ at Christmas, without going back on these temporary reductions, when more and more voices question their reasonableness.
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