Patel refuses to rule out further Tier 4 restrictions as mutant virus spreads
Home Secretary Priti Patel has refused to rule out a new year lockdown, as a new, more infectious variant of coronavirus spreads across the country.
This morning Patel said the government was willing to take stronger measures if the virus continued to spread in the UK.
Speaking on Sky News, she said: “If new strains appear, and this virus has been mutating in many ways already, then of course all measures are under review.
“If the virus continues to spread then we will take stronger measures… but it’s not for me to preempt any change.”
London and large swathes of southeast England were placed in Tier 4 restrictions this weekend, measures that are akin to lockdown, with residents urged to stay home and all but essential businesses shut.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday evening the UK’s chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance said Christmas mixing of households was likely to lead to a spike in cases.
Vallance said measures could “need to be increased in some places, in due course, not reduced”.
It comes as European countries, and countries further around the world, shut their borders to the UK in the hope of containing a new, more infectious variant of the virus.
The latest figures released on Monday showed another 33,364 people in the UK tested positive for coronavirus, with another 215 deaths within 28 days of testing positive, bringing the UK total to 67,616.