The UK faces a new variant of the New Crown virus and London is once again sealed off, ranking the UK and Italy among the worst countries in Europe for the New Crown.
On Saturday, December 19, the British government announced a renewed lockdown of London and some areas of southeastern England in the hope that the current bout will slow the spread of the new crown epidemic.
British Prime Minister Johnson said at a press conference that “there are indications that during the expansion of the virus, a new variant has emerged that is more contagious and 70 percent more likely than the previous virus.” However, Johnson stressed that “there is no evidence that the new variant of the virus is more lethal or leaves patients with more severe symptoms, nor is there evidence that this variant diminishes the effectiveness of the vaccine.”
According to the above considerations, London and the southeast of England are on an upgraded epidemic alert from this Sunday, stores that are considered non-essential are not allowed to remain open, people need to stay at home, earlier pubs and restaurants and museums have been closed, in addition to leaving the area involved in the lockdown order, traveling to other parts of the UK or leaving the country, are not allowed.
A few days ago, British Prime Minister Johnson was reluctant to issue these strict measures, and the government was even prepared to relax controls a little on Christmas Eve so that people could spend the holidays better. Now, under the highest level of prevention, all gatherings during Christmas have been called off, and only one day, December 25, can focus on meeting with family members to celebrate.
In addition, the UK has also said it has notified the World health Organization of the emergence of a new, faster-spreading variant of the New Coronavirus. The WHO has previously received reports of virus variants reported by other countries as well. Patrick Vallens, a scientific adviser to the British government, said the new variant, while spreading faster, has also become the “most dominant” species in the U.K. now, first appearing in London and southeastern Kent in mid-September of this year. By December, this variant dominated 62% of the cases recorded in London and 43% of those detected in the southeast. In November, the percentage had been only 28 percent. Valens also noted that the new variant of the virus differs from the previous one in these 23 places, which is unusual. But he believes that the current vaccine can still do an effective job against it. So far, the number of people who have died from the new coronavirus in the U.K. has exceeded 67,000, which, along with Italy, is the worst in Europe. Italy has seen more than 68,000 deaths from the new coronavirus, and Prime Minister Antonio Conte has announced that a national ban will be imposed during the year-end festivities.
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