Independent Sage:

#We believe that the government must immediately:

1. Rescind a relaxation of the rules and ban household mixing on Christmas Day (apart from exemptions and pre-existing bubbles)
2. Place all regions of England in Tier 4 to suppress spread of the virus as far as possible while scientists continue to learn more about the new variant. The devolved nations should bring forward their own national lockdowns from Boxing Day to 24th December. Tier 4 should include enhanced travel restrictions.
3. Put in place an emergency plan to enable safe education in January and February.
4. Focus all efforts on mass roll-out of vaccination.

The inability to control COVID-19 is leading to the emergence of variants with increasing transmission potential. The new variant and the potential emergence of others requires a complete rethink of all mitigation strategies. Independent SAGE will release a more detailed plan for control and suppression of the new variant over the weekend.#

https://www.independentsage.org/24-december-2020-emergency-statement-on-new-variant-of-covid-19-and-rapidly-worsening-situation-in-uk/

Image by Thomas Breher from Pixabay