LONDON – Opposing a newly emerged coronavirus mutation with “significantly faster” transmission rates, Britain on Saturday announced transmission restrictions that returned London and parts of the country to a significant lockout and reversed commitments earlier for relaxed rules over the holidays.
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The new variant, or variant, was first discovered in the south-east of England in September and is fast becoming a major series in London and other parts of Britain. Experts say it does not appear more lethal or more stable with vaccines.
At a press conference from 10 Downing Street, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the new variant could “be up to 70 per cent more mobile” than previous versions of the virus here.
“This is spreading very fast,” he said, announcing a ban on local and international travel and other extraordinary measures for around 18 million people in England starting on Sunday. their own tight constraints, including a ban on all but necessary movement around the island.
Many countries have reversed difficult social distance measures as coronavirus cases moved backwards in the second and third waves. Britain, however, appears to have been the first to identify a specific coronavirus variant for an increase in disease and the need to reverse the most severe measures.
“We have issued a warning to the World Health Organization and are continuing to analyze the available data,” said England’s chief medical adviser, Chris Whitty. It was not immediately clear whether the new variant had moved beyond Britain.
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Britain’s chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance, said the virus had “disappeared” after being watched for months.
“And it’s moving fast and has led to a sharp rise in hospitals,” he said, adding that new restrictions are needed at an “awful moment.”
He went on to say, however, that the departure of the new snort is “controllable and light at the end of the tunnel with the vaccines has begun.” Britain was the first to approve the new Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and the first to start a major immunization program earlier this month.
The researchers confirmed that this type of mutation is not surprising. Sharon Peacock, director of the UK Covid-19 Genomics Consortium and professor of microbiology at Cambridge University, confirmed that thousands of mutations in the coronavirus have been identified since its emergence.
“The large number have no effect,” she said. “Variables are part of natural life.”
Many viruses go around and grow, becoming more mobile but less lethal. But so far, the decline in mortality among infected people during the pandemic is due to improvements in treatments.
Johnson and his government have been fighting to “save Christmas.” They locked up Britain across the country in November, hoping that this would delay the spread and allow more peace restrictions for five days during the holidays, to allow family and friends to gather.
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London and the south east and east of England will now enter the highest level of “Tier 4” restrictions.
That means all incompetent shops will be closed, as well as gyms, hair salons, pubs, restaurants and theaters. Travel to and from the Tier 4 areas is not permitted. People should leave their homes just to buy food and medicines, attend medical appointments, exercise outdoors and travel to and from work, unless -they can work from home. Gatherings are prohibited, although there are exceptions for religious services. People can only meet one other person from another home in an outdoor area.
Christmas gatherings of more than one family will be banned in the Tier 4 zone – but allowed for one day in other areas.
“We are, of course, deeply saddened by the changes,” Johnson said.
“When the virus changes its approach, we as a nation need to change our defense,” he said.
British scientists have been following the spread of the new variety for nearly three months, and finally saw it in samples taken from more than 1,100 people, most of whom live there. southeast of England.
John Edmunds, an expert on infectious diseases at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, told reporters that scientists need to answer three questions: Is the variant more lethal, can it bypass infectious or vaccine antibodies, and is it possible to give?
“Right now we don’t have any information on the first two questions, but over the last few days we’ve started to get an answer for the third one, which is really bad news. the answer, “he said. “It looks like this virus is much more contagious than the previous series.”
On Saturday, the chief scientific adviser said there were 23 different mutations in this new version. Most were part of the virus-encoding virus genome for the spike protein, the protruding structure necessary for the pathogen’s ability to bind to the receptor cells in an exposed person and then evaporated.
© Tolga Akmen / AFP / Getty Images
A worker cleans the pavement at Piccadilly Circus in central London on December. 18, 2020.
Fans of the virus briefed reporters from various media outlets, including The Washington Post, a few days ago. What surprised them was how often the opposite was true.
“This line came up very quickly,” said Nick Loman, professor of microbial genomics at the University of Birmingham.
Peter Openshaw, professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College London, described British government data on the new version as “very worrying,” notes that the “variable looks about 40 to 70 percent more mobile. “
He said the number of cases could double in “just six or seven days” at the current rate.
“So it’s very important that we get this under control,” he told science reporters on Saturday.
Joel Achenbach in Washington contributed to this report.
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