LONDON: Millions of individuals in the UK under strict new coronavirus restrictions on Saturday (Dec 26), with Scotland and Northern Eire demanding tighter measures to attempt to halt a new variant of the virus that’s believed to spread more quickly.
Northern Eire went into a six-week lockdown and in Wales, restrictions that had been relaxed for Christmas Day had been also re-imposed.
The number of individuals in England under restrictions – Tier 4 – increased by 6 million on Saturday to 24 million individuals in general, around 43 percent of England’s population. The area included London and lots of of its surrounding areas.
No indoor mixing of households is allowed, and only important travel permitted. Gyms, swimming pools, hairdressers, and stores selling non-essential items have been ordered to shut and pubs and eating places can only do takeout. Business teams say the restrictions can be economically devastating to their members.
The UK recorded 210 COVID-19 deaths on Saturday, down from 570 the day earlier, whereas cases rose 1,968 to 34,693, the government mentioned, citing the partial report.
The UK has recorded a demise toll of 70,405, defined as these dying within 28 days of a positive test. Under that measure, it has the world’s sixth-largest toll, after America, Brazil, India, Mexico, and Italy.
BORDER CHAOS
Fears concerning the UK’s new variant have sparked a week of border chaos. Around 1,000 British soldiers spent Christmas Day attempting to clear an enormous backlog of vans stranded in southeast England after France briefly closed its border to the UK and demanded coronavirus tests from all drivers.
However, Britain’s Transport Secretary Grant Shapps mentioned on Saturday that more than 15,000 drivers had been tested and that the backlog at a testing site at Manston Airport had cleared. Only 36 positive tests had been reported, he mentioned on Twitter.
“A BIG THANK YOU to everybody who gives service tirelessly over the past few days to reduce the massive disruption brought on by the sudden French border closure,” Shapps tweeted.
The first cases of the UK’s new variant have now been detected in France and Spain. A French man residing in England arrived in France on Dec 19 and tested positive for the new variant on Friday, the French public health agency mentioned. He has no signs and is isolating at his residence within the central city of Tours.
In the meantime, health authorities within the Madrid area mentioned that they had confirmed the UK variant in 4 individuals, all of whom are in good health. Regional health chief Enrique Ruiz Escudero mentioned the new strain had arrived when a contaminated particular person flew into Madrid’s airport.
In her annual Christmas address, Queen Elizabeth II, who has spent a lot of the yr isolating at Windsor Castle with her husband Prince Philip, delivered a heartfelt message of hope praising the “indomitable spirit” of those that have risen “magnificently” to the challenges of the pandemic.
The 94-year-old queen and her 99-year-old husband Prince Philip had been setting an example by not visiting family as usual over Christmas.
