COVID-19 variant triggers call for nationwide Tier-4 lockdown in UK by scientists

Scientists in the United Kingdom have called for a nationwide lockdown as the new strain of COVID-19 continues to rage havoc across the country. This comes as the UK government on Saturday extended the strict Tier 4 lockdown in other parts of east and south-east England. Scotland and Ireland also imposed a COVID-19 lockdown attributed to the new variant of the virus. More than 24 million people across the UK are now living under lockdown, which is about 40 percent of the country's total population. 

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The call to impose a nationwide lockdown comes as cases of the new strain of COVID-19 virus were detected in other parts of Europe on Saturday, including Spain, Switzerland, and Sweden. All the cases detected in the above-mentioned countries so far are linked to people who had arrived from the United Kingdom. The call to impose a countrywide lockdown came from a group of scientists working for the Independent Sage group, a body that is advising the UK government and people on how to minimise COVID-19 deaths.  

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The new strain of COVID-19

The UK government informed the public about the new strain on December 2 and imposed a strict Tier 4 lockdown in south-east England, where the variant was frequently being detected in cases. It is believed that the new strain is dangerous than all other variants detected across the world since the outbreak began in December 2019. However, a study to find out more about the new variant is still underway and nothing can be said with confidence as of now. 

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Experts believe that the new variant spreads faster and may be responsible for the second wave in the country. It remains unclear how the new variant affects COVID-19 vaccines and other treatments, but public health specialists and drug manufacturers have assured that the virus has not evolved enough to beat the vaccines yet. The UK government is administering COVID-19 vaccines to high-risk groups and so far it has inoculated over 6,00,000 people. 

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