The U.K. Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, has warned that the UK has been hit with a new strain of the novel coronavirus that is known to spread at a more rapid rate than the conventional kind.?
This has led to the issuing of severe high-level restrictions for people in certain parts of the nation.?
The authorities have asked over 16 million Britons living in London and southeast England to stay locked in their homes while also scrapping all plans to relax easements during Christmas to prevent spreading of the novel coronavirus.?
Hancock said in a statement to Sky News, ¡°Cases have absolutely rocketed, so we¡¯ve got a long way to go. I think it will be very difficult to keep it under control until the vaccine has rolled out." People in the new Tier 4 areas ¡°should behave as though they have it."
Hancock also revealed that as of Saturday, morning, 350,000 people had been vaccinated and they plan on crossing 500,000 over the weekend.?
According to Hancock, this strain was also spotted in the Netherlands, Denmark, Australia and South Africa. Even though they know that this strain spreads rapidly, it is still unknown if it's more dangerous and if the vaccines that are currently out are effective against this new variant of SARS CoV-2.?
Worried to get the cases with the newer strain, Netherlands has already suspended flights from Britain until January 1. This is also seen in Germany and France, announcing a complete transport ban. Belgium has issued a flight ban for 24 hours while also halting train links to Britain, including Eurostar. Austria and Italy too have announced halting of flights.?
The World Health Organisation on Saturday announced that it is in close contact with UK officials on the new COVID-19 mutation and promised to update the governments and public as they derive more information on it.?