Downing Street Press Briefing Summary

Johnson cancels Christmas for millions in London and the South East

A summary from todays Downing Street Press Briefing:

 

• The total number of lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK has now passed more than two million since the outbreak began, according to the Government’s dashboard.

 

• The new variant strain of the virus which causes Covid-19 may be up to 70% more transmissible and could increase the R value by 0.4

 

• London and large areas of south and eastern England will enter a new “Tier 4” lockdown from Sunday, with non-essential retail closed and Christmas bubbles cancelled due to concerns around the spread of the new coronavirus variant.

 

• The festive bubble policy across Tier 1, 2 and 3 areas of England will be dramatically scaled back to just Christmas Day

 

• The Prime Minister said: “We are sacrificing the chance to see our loved ones this Christmas so we have a better chance of protecting their lives so that we can see them at future Christmases”.

 

• 350,000 people in the UK have so far received their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine,

 

 

Published: 19/12/2020 by Radio NewsHub