Christmas cancelled for London? PM gears up for press conference today
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Boris Johnson will hold a press conference at 4pm this afternoon as professor Chris Whitty has confirmed the virulence of a new strain of coronavirus found in London and the South East.
Westminster insiders have suggested London, the South East and the East of England will be placed into a brand new Tier 4 ahead of Christmas, and given a firm “stay at home” message.
In the last few days fears have mounted that England will be placed into a third national lockdown after Christmas, following a steep rise in coronavirus cases.
Johnson is currently holding an emergency cabinet meeting on the new strain, and in the last hour Michael Gove spoke with the devolved nations.
Chief medical officer Whitty said: “The UK has identified a new variant of Covid-19 through Public Health England’s genomic surveillance.
“As a result of the rapid spread of the new variant, preliminary modelling data and rapidly rising incidence rates in the South East, the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG) now consider that the new strain can spread more quickly.
“We have alerted the World Health Organisation and are continuing to analyse the available data to improve our understanding.”
Witty said there was “no evidence” the new strain was more deadly than previous strains, nor that it would change the affectiveness of the vaccine or treatments, although “urgent work is underway to confirm this.”
Much of the South East was plunged into Tier 3 restrictions this week, but it is believed that Government is considering whether to go further, with some reports suggesting travel curbs are being mulled.
The number of people believed to be positive in the capital alone is now around 125,000, according to new data.