U.K. beefs up virus restrictions
Christmas gatherings ordered canceled; London shops closed
LONDON — Millions of people must cancel their Christmas get-togethers and most shops must close in London and much of southern England, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Saturday as he imposed a stricter level of coronavirus restrictions on the region to curb rapidly spreading infections.
The U.K. has Europe’s second-highest death toll — more than 67,000 — behind Italy.
Johnson said the capital and large areas in southern England already under the highest level of the U.K. government’s threetiered coronavirus alert system will move into a new Tier 4 that requires all nonessential shops, hairdressers and indoor leisure venues to shut at the close of business Saturday.
With just a few days until Christmas, Johnson also announced that a planned easing of socializing rules that would have allowed up to three households to meet in “Christmas bubbles” from Wednesday through Sunday will be canceled for Tier 4 areas and sharply curtailed in the rest of England.
“It is with a very heavy heart that I must tell you we cannot proceed with Christmas as planned,” Johnson said.
No mixing of households will be allowed in Tier 4 except under very limited conditions. Travel in and out of Tier 4 areas won’t be allowed unless essential. In the rest of England, people will be allowed to meet in Christmas bubbles for just one day instead of five.
The changes upend the plans of millions of people who were looking forward to gathering with family and friends this week and force scores to revise their travel plans at the last minute.
While restaurants, pubs, bars and theaters in much of England are already closed and prepared for a bleak Christmas, all shops in Tier 4 areas that don’t sell food or medicine received only hours’ notice that they must shutter until officials review the situation Dec. 30.
The British Retail Consortium said it was “hugely regrettable news,” especially coming just two weeks after a monthlong lockdown in England ended and at the height of the year’s peak retail period.
“Retailers have invested hundreds of millions of pounds making stores covid-secure for customers and staff,” said Helen Dickinson, the trade body’s chief executive. “For businesses, the government’s stop-start approach is deeply unhelpful.”
Johnson said that a fast-moving new variant of the coronavirus that is more than 70% more transmissible than previous strains appears to be driving the rapid spread in London and southern England.
“There’s no evidence to suggest it is more lethal or causes more severe illness,” the prime minister stressed, or that vaccines will be less effective against it.
COVID HITS INDIA HARD
In India, confirmed cases have crossed 10 million even as new infections have dipped to their lowest levels in three months, as the country prepares for a huge vaccination campaign in the new year.
It took India 12 days to get from 5 million to 6 million cases, but 22 days to go from 8 million to 9 million, and 29 days to hit 10 million.
Nevertheless, the epidemic has infected nearly 1% of India’s more than 1.3 billion people, second only to the United States.
And India’s economy contracted by 7.5% in the July-September quarter following a record slump of 23.9% in the previous three months, pushing the country into a recession for the first time in its history.
With millions of people becoming jobless, the government is continuing to relax the harsh lockdown restrictions imposed in March.
A large number of offices, shops, businesses, liquor stores, bars and restaurants have reopened.
Restricted domestic and international evacuation flights are being operated along with trains. Schools remain closed.
Dr. Randeep Guleria, a government health expert, said India is keeping its fingers crossed for the winter.
“If we can sustain our declining trend for the next two to three months, we should be able to start the vaccination program and start moving away from the pandemic,” he said.
India is home to some of the world’s biggest vaccine-makers and there are five vaccine candidates in different trial phases in the country.
The Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine-maker, is licensed to produce the Oxford University-AstraZeneca shots. India’s Bharat Biotech vaccine also is a front-runner, and the two vaccines are expected to get authorization for emergency use within weeks, said Guleria.
India aims to provide vaccines to 250 million people by July. The government is planning to receive 450 million to 500 million doses, the Health Ministry said.