More than 60% of England faces winter under the toughest Covid restrictions, with pubs and restaurants forced to close before Christmas amid warnings of a new strain of the virus.
In London and parts of the south-east, 10 million people will enter tier 3 measures on Wednesday, the health secretary announced – less than two weeks after a national lockdown designed to suppress surging coronavirus cases.
After a week of uplifting news from the start of the vaccine rollout, Matt Hancock said it was a “salutary warning for the whole country” as he urged people to minimise all social contact. “This isn’t over yet,” he said, placing London and parts of Essex and Hertfordshire under tier 3 and bringing the number of people under the strictest rules to 34 million.
MPs, including Conservative backbenchers and scientists sounded the alarm ahead of the five-day Christmas relaxation of curbs but Downing Street insisted the plans would not be reviewed.
In a surprise announcement, Hancock told the Commons that more than 1,000 cases of the new virus strain have been found in almost 60 areas, predominantly in southern England.
He suggested the new strain was growing faster than already existing variants but stressed that clinical advice suggested it was “highly unlikely” the mutation would fail to respond to a vaccine.
Prof Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, said there was no evidence the variant is more dangerous, and that it would be picked up by tests.
Whitty also stressed during a Downing Street press conference that the new strain was not the reason behind tier 3 moves: “The reason that tier 3 has been brought in is because the rates have been going up very fast in many areas. The variant may or may not be contributing to that but the reality of that is that is happening across the board, and that’s the reason for making the changes.”
Scientists said any potential impact on the Covid vaccine rollout would need to be examined. Prof Wendy Barclay, from Imperial College London and a member of Sage, said: “This variant contains some mutations in spike protein that is the major target of vaccines, and it will be important to establish whether they impact vaccine efficacy by performing experiments in the coming weeks.”
Sir Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, said there had been several mutations in the virus, which was to be expected. But he warned: “This is potentially serious; the surveillance and research must continue and we must take the necessary steps to stay ahead of the virus.”
A spokesperson for the World Health Organization said it was in touch with UK experts on the identification of the variant. To date they did not have evidence that it was behaving differently, but they will follow developments.
The latest data showed almost 24,000 confirmed cases in London in a week, with rates rising in every borough. In a briefing to MPs, deputy chief medical officer Jenny Harries said numbers were akin to the start of the pandemic with a doubling rate of five to seven days.
The British Medical Association, which represents most of Britain’s doctors, said London going into tier 3 would save lives. Dr Gary Marlowe, its London regional council chair, said: “The escalation in London shows how quickly progress to control the virus has been undone and with the vaccination rollout still in its infancy, there is now no option other than to move London into the highest tier.
“As a GP working in London, I have seen first-hand the sharp rise in the numbers of my patients testing positive in the last week. The reality is that some patients testing positive in London will require hospital admission – to an NHS already buckling under the strain. Even with Christmas round the corner, now is not the time to let down our guard.”
However, announcing the plans in the Commons, Hancock came under pressure from MPs over the impact the new restrictions would have on newly reopened businesses dependent on Christmas trade at what would traditionally be their busiest time of year.
As well as pubs and restaurants being allowed to sell only takeaways, the new restrictions will also mean sports fans being barred from attending events. Indoor cinemas, theatres and concert halls must also close to visitors.
The pub chain Wetherspoons reacted to the news by announcing it would slash beer prices in areas of southern England going into tier 3 restrictions to 99p per pint until last orders on Tuesday.
Mark Harper, chair of the Covid recovery group of lockdown-sceptic MPs, said: “I’m afraid that London and other parts of the south-east moving into tier 3 shortly shows that the current strategy to combat Covid isn’t working.
“If this strategy was working at breaking the transmission of Covid, we would today be talking about areas moving down the tiers, or developing an exit strategy from repeated lockdowns. We must end the devastating cycle of repeated restrictions and lockdowns, recapture the public’s support and confidence and start living in a sustainable way again.”
Whitty said it was possible to turn the situation around in the south of England. “Think of what was achieved in the north of the country and in the Midlands when people really did decide to pull things down in the equivalent of tier 3,” he said. “Communities came together to try to achieve that and the rates came down.”
Asked about the new strain on Monday, Maria Van Kerkhove, Covid-19 technical lead at the World Health Organization, told a press briefing: “So far we don’t have any evidence that this variant behaves differently. But we will continue to evaluate and inform you of any changes.”
