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The United Kingdom announced on Friday that it would impose from Monday, in addition to a negative test for Covid-19, a quarantine on all travelers arriving from abroad, ending the exemptions granted to certain countries, to avoid contaminations by the new variants.
The UK is hit hard by a second wave of the epidemic, the virulence of which is attributed to a variant of the novel coronavirus identified in the country, and the government is trying to stem this surge of cases through vaccination. More than 3.2 million people have already received a first dose of the vaccine.
After having already announced that a negative test would be mandatory from Monday for arrivals from abroad, the government announced on Friday to end on the same date the quarantine exemptions granted to countries with low rates of contamination, such as Japan or Australia currently.
“It is precisely because we have the hope of this vaccine and the risk of new strains coming from abroad that we must take additional measures now to prevent these strains from entering the country,” Boris said. Johnson during a press conference, to explain the new border measures.
Anyone arriving in the United Kingdom will therefore have to remain confined for ten days, a period that can be shortened with a negative screening carried out at least five days after arrival.
Mr Johnson called on the British to strictly adhere to containment in place to stem the spike in cases.
“Really think twice before you leave the house this weekend and only do so if absolutely necessary,” pleaded Mr Johnson, in a video posted to his Twitter account.
Images of densely visited parks in recent days have prompted authorities to reiterate their calls for caution. In one of these parks, in Leeds (northern England), hundreds of people took part in a giant snowball fight on Thursday afternoon.
Even though the number of new cases has fallen since containment, the United Kingdom has recorded nearly 56,000 in 24 hours according to the latest report released on Friday.
The number of people hospitalized, more than 37,000, continues to climb and has largely exceeded the peak of the first wave.
More than 87,000 people died within 28 days of testing positive for the coronavirus (+1,280), the worst toll in Europe.
Next week, the number of people hospitalized and dead “will continue to increase”, anticipates Professor Chris Whitty, chief medical officer for England, because the effects of the confinement “take some time to be felt”.
Scientists advising the government put the virus reproduction rate (R0) for the UK at between 1.2 and 1.3.
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