A new strain of the corona virus is shaking the UK. A sharp rise in COVID-19 infection caused by this new variant has led a new stringent, stay-at-home lockdown in the country from Sunday, with non-essential shops and businesses now closed.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the new rules at a briefing from 10 Downing Street on Saturday evening. A new Tier 4 level has been added to the current three-tier lockdown system to try and control the rise in infections caused by the new mutation of the deadly virus.
“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. It seems that the spread is now being driven by the new variant of the virus
Boris Johnson
This means that the planned five-day ‘Christmas bubble’ of relaxed rules stands cancelled. The restrictions imposed on Sunday will affect about a third of the population in England.
Many European nations have banned flights to and from Britain. No policy decision has been taken by India on any flight ban from the UK but the matter will be given a serious consideration, people with direct knowledge of the matter said.
The Netherlands has imposed a ban on UK flights and Belgium said it would follow suit. Germany, too, stopped flights from Britain and is considering a similar move as “a serious option” for flights from South Africa, where another variant of coronavirus was discovered.
Italy will join the ban in order to protect its citizens, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio wrote on Facebook, without specifying when the measures would come into force. Austria’s Health Ministry told the APA news agency that it would also impose a flight ban, the details of which were still being worked out.
