Tougher U.K. coronavirus curbs may last some time

London and southeast England may stay under tighter coronavirus curbs for some time, Britain’s health minister suggested on Sunday, adding that dropping plans to ease restrictions for Christmas was needed to stem a fast-spreading new strain.

The government faced criticism for imposing an effective lockdown on more than 16 million people just days before Christmas, but Matt Hancock said Saturday’s decision was taken speedily after new evidence showed the new strain was responsible for spiralling COVID-19 cases.

Announcing the measures, Prime Minister Boris Johnson abruptly tore up plans to allow three households to mix indoors for five days over the festive period and imposed new Tier 4 level curbs — similar to a national lockdown in March — on London and southeast England.

Hancock suggested the tougher measures — which require about a third of the population of England to stay at home except for essential reasons such as work — might stay in place until vaccinations become more widely available.

“We’ve got a long way to go to sort this,” Hancock told Sky News.

“Essentially we’ve got to get that vaccine rolled out to keep people safe. Given how much faster this new variant spreads, it’s going to be very difficult to keep it under control until we have the vaccine rolled out.”

Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition Labour Party, told a news conference that while he supported the new measures, “yet again the prime minister waited until the 11th hour to take this decision.