The British Minister of Health, Matt Hancock explained on Sunday that the new strain of coronavirus that causes the covid-19 disease was “out of control”, thus justifying the restrictions in London and parts of southern England. In an interview with Sky News, he added that the measures may remain in effect “for a few months”, until the vaccine has been administered to most of the UK population.
“Unfortunately, the new strain was out of control. We had to regain control and the only way to do that was to reduce social contacts, ”said the minister. “It will be very difficult to keep the virus under control until vaccination. So the important thing is that people follow the rules and prevent the virus from infecting more people ”.
“It is a big challenge until we have the vaccine to protect people. This is the scenario for the coming months, ”said Hancock.
The minister explained that the new variant of SARS-Cov-2 has a greater infectious potential – “you can get it from a small sample of the virus”. “We need to apply more measures with the new variant than with the previous variant. And this is the essential problem, ”said the minister to justify the move from London and part of southeastern England to level 4, where shops are closed, as well as leisure spaces, and it will not be allowed to celebrate Christmas outside the household (or being on the street with more than one person).
The confinement of London, southeastern England and parts of the east of the country, was announced on Saturday by Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The measure affects 16 million people who are expected to stay at home and telework when possible.
The first samples of the new variant were taken in November in the United Kingdom, said the minister, stressing that since then it has been noticed that the level of contagion has risen. “In November, in the areas where this variant started, in Kent, cases rose in relation to the rest of the country where confinement [parcial] November had positive effects, ”said Hancock.
Several countries announced limitations on flights to and from the United Kingdom on Sunday. Pfor now, Portugal does not impose any limits.
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