At a news conference from 10 Downing Street, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the new variant “may be up to 70 percent more transmissible” than previous versions of the virus here.

“This is spreading very fast,” he said, announcing local and international travel bans and other extreme measures for about 18 million people in England beginning Sunday. Wales and Scotland followed with their own tightened restrictions, including banning all but essential movement around the isle.

Many countries have reimposed tough social distancing measures as coronavirus cases roared back in second and third waves. Britain, however, appears to be the first to point to a specific coronavirus variant for a surge in infections and the need to bring back the toughest measures.

“We have alerted the World Health Organization and are continuing to analyze the available data,” said England’s chief medical adviser, Chris Whitty. It was not immediately clear if the new variant had moved beyond Britain.

Britain’s chief science adviser, …continued .
[Source: Washington Post]