Mutant virus concerns in the UK bring expected rollbacks with relaxed holiday rules

At an evening press conference from 10 Downing Street, Johnson said the new variant was “up to 70 percent more contagious.” “This is spreading very rapidly,” he added.

Chris Whitty, England’s Chief Health Officer, is currently evidence suggesting that new strains can avoid vaccines designed to cause, more deadly, or defeat more serious illnesses. Said not. But he said that 62 percent of new cases in London are now caused by this variant.

“We warn the World Health Organization and continue to analyze the available data,” Whitty said.

“The virus is endemic, rapidly progressing, and hospitalizations are skyrocketing,” said Patrick Valence, chief scientific adviser to the United Kingdom, about the variant.

Valence said the new restrictions introduced by the new variant were “a terrifying moment, but it was controllable and there was light at the end of the tunnel where vaccination was initiated.”

This was a particularly dangerous time, according to Valence. The population was sandwiched between rapidly expanding variants, but before the vaccine was widely distributed. The UK was the first company to approve the new Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine and launch a mass vaccination program earlier this month.

Johnson and his government have fought to “save Christmas.” They put the UK in a national blockade in November, hoping that it would delay communication and allow greater relaxation of the five-day vacation limit so that family and friends could gather. There was.

London and the southeast and east of England will now be in the highest Tier 4 limits starting Sunday. This means that all unnecessary shops will be closed, as will gyms, hair salons, pubs, restaurants and theaters. No entry or exit to the Tier 4 area is permitted. People can only meet one person in another household in the outdoor space.

Multiple family Christmas gatherings are only allowed for one day across the UK, even in areas not restricted by Tier 4. People in the Tier 4 area can’t do that at all.

“Of course, we terribly regret the change,” Johnson said.

“When a virus changes the way it attacks, we as a nation must change the way we defend it,” he explained.

British scientists have been tracking the spread of the new variant for nearly three months, eventually confirming it in samples taken from more than 1,100 people. Most of them lived in southeastern England.

The virus tracker briefed reporters in various media, including the Washington Post, earlier this week. Scientists said it suggests that new variants are spreading rapidly, becoming more infectious and more susceptible to infection. But they warned that there was no evidence to suggest that the mutant could lead to more illness or death.

Many viruses mutate and evolve, making them more contagious, but not fatal.

What surprised them was the sudden spread of mutants in mucus and salvia samples taken from patients.

“This strain emerged very rapidly,” said Nick Roman, a professor of microbial genomics at the University of Birmingham.

The epidemic of new mutations was discovered by the UK Covid-19 Genomics Consortium, which operates a UK government and university laboratory to track changes in the virus.

Scientists said thousands of mutations in the cornovirus have been detected in samples taken around the world, causing new strains to emerge and usually disappear.

But Roman also said the number of mutations in this new strain was remarkable. The new mutants show 17 mutations, most of which are in the genomic segment of the virus that encodes the peplomer. This is an essential overhanging structure for the pathogen’s ability to bind to receptor cells in exposed and infected individuals.

On Saturday, the Chief Science Advisor updated the changes to the virus, saying there were 23 different mutations.

Joel Achenbach of Washington contributed to this report.