The UK imposes tighter rules amid new COVID strain

[Gimme More 35,802]

Prime Minister Boris Johnson imposed an effective lockdown on over 16 million people in England and reversed plans to ease curbs over Christmas, saying Britain was dealing with a new coronavirus strain up to 70% more transmissible than the original.

Although Johnson and his scientific advisors believe vaccines will still be effective, and the new strain is not more deadly or more serious in terms of the illness caused, he said on Saturday the government had to take urgent action.

The number of cases in England has soared in the last two weeks because of the virus variant.

Johnson tore up plans to allow three households to mix indoors for five days over the festive period, and said London and southeast England, which are currently in the highest level of a three-tier system of rules, would now be placed in a new Tier 4 level, similar to those of a recent national lockdown.

“It is with a very heavy heart I must tell you we cannot continue with Christmas as planned,” Johnson told a news conference. “I sincerely believe there is no alternative open to me.”

People in Tier 4 - 16.4 million and about a third of the population of England - will be required to stay at home except for essential reasons such as work, and non-essential retail will close, as will indoor leisure and entertainment.

Social mixing will be limited to meeting one other person in an outdoor space. The new rules will come into effect from midnight on Saturday.

Johnson, whose initial response to the pandemic has been criticised for being too slow, had resisted calls to change plans for the Christmas relaxation, saying on Wednesday it would be “frankly inhuman” to ban it.

However, those now in Tier 4 will not be allowed to mix with others over Christmas. And everyone else in England will now be allowed to see friends and family only on Christmas Day itself, Dec. 25.

The UK’s other nations, whose response to the pandemic differs from that of England at times, also took action.

Scotland said on Saturday it would impose a ban on travel to the rest of the United Kingdom, and the Christmas easing would be limited to Dec. 25 only. All of Wales will go into Tier 4 from midnight, but two households can mix on Christmas Day.

Like other countries in Europe, Britain is battling to contain new waves of the virus. It reported 27,052 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, taking the total over 2 million, and 534 more deaths, taking the overall official toll to more than 67,000.

England’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said the authorities had alerted the World Health Organization and were continuing to analyse the data.

“There’s no evidence to suggest it is more lethal or causes more severe illness,” Johnson said. “There’s no evidence to suggest the vaccine will be any less effective against the new variant.

Other countries have also reported variants of the virus. South Africa said on Friday one such strain was driving a second wave of infections there.

[numb the flame 7,321]

50 minutes ago, Gimme More said:

Johnson, whose initial response to the pandemic has been criticised for being too slow, had resisted calls to change plans for the Christmas relaxation, saying on Wednesday it would be “frankly inhuman” to ban it.

yet he was quick enough to ban Muslims gathering for their celebrations and didn't think that was inhuman to ban.

[bionic 50,111]

4 minutes ago, numb the flame said:

yet he was quick enough to ban Muslims gathering for their celebrations and didn't think that was inhuman to ban.

Imagine Christmas is a bigger deal to a bigger population of the UK

[numb the flame 7,321]

1 minute ago, bionic said:

Imagine Christmas is a bigger deal to a bigger population of the UK

why should there be one rule for muslims and another rule for the rest of the UK?

[bionic 50,111]

1 minute ago, numb the flame said:

why should there be one rule for muslims and another rule for the rest of the UK?

The UK is officially a Christian country

[MonsterMom 12,647]

Will this nightmare ever end 

[numb the flame 7,321]

1 minute ago, bionic said:

The UK is officially a Christian country

I'm from the UK myself however that doesn't mean Christmas is any greater than Eid is to Muslims. 

[bionic 50,111]

2 minutes ago, numb the flame said:

I'm from the UK myself however that doesn't mean Christmas is any greater than Eid is to Muslims. 

Why wouldn't the UK government give preference to its state religion?

 

[Celloo Deng 56,317]

14 minutes ago, numb the flame said:

yet he was quick enough to ban Muslims gathering for their celebrations and didn't think that was inhuman to ban.

Agree. I remember a lot of the stricter regional lockdowns being in cities with big Muslim communities around the time of Eid. 

[numb the flame 7,321]

Just now, bionic said:

Why wouldn't the UK give preference to its state religion?

because the UK loves to boast about how diverse we are as a nation, how we're so rich in various cultures from all around the world. We love our diversities until something like this happens and we can happily scrap Eid hours before but Christmas just tell miss rona she can have a five day break during her world tour. Eid is no less to Muslims than Christmas is to Christians, both are religious holidays, however the later has become a huge commercial holiday now. There should never have been a five day window if the virus is this bad in the UK. The tories are trash and the UK is an absolute mess thanks to the idiot running this so called United Kingdom. 

[Purrrrrr 18,099]

it's literally bs

 

the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results right?

these weak lockdowns compared to the first one that obviously didn't work..  so what is gonna be different when this 'tier' **** ends? it's gonna be the same damn situation!?!?

happy new 20tier21 y'all