Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Johnson Orders Strict Lockdown In Britain To Fight Coronavirus Mutation
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to chair an emergency meeting with ministers Monday, as governments around the world step up efforts to contain a potentially fast-spreading new coronavirus variant. Alarm over the new variant, which was first identified in England, has seen British travelers cut off from much of Europe and other parts of the world as countries move to impose restrictions on flights from the UK. (Gan, 12/21)
A growing list of European Union nations and Canada barred travel from the U.K. on Sunday and others were considering similar action, in a bid to block a new strain of coronavirus sweeping across southern England from spreading to the continent. France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Ireland and Bulgaria all announced restrictions on U.K. travel, hours after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that Christmas shopping and gatherings in southern England must be canceled because of rapidly spreading infections blamed on the new coronavirus variant. (Grieshaber and Hui, 12/20)
The U.S. doesn鈥檛 need to suspend flights from the U.K. based on a coronavirus mutation that helped prompt an emergency lockdown for London, a member of the White House virus task force said. 鈥淚 really don鈥檛 believe we need to do that yet,鈥 Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir said on ABC鈥檚 鈥淭his Week鈥 on Sunday. Giroir and Vivek Murthy, President-elect Joe Biden鈥檚 pick for surgeon general, both expressed confidence that vaccines developed to fight Covid-19, two of which are already approved for use in the U.S., will be effective against the mutated form of the virus. (Wade and Pickert, 12/20)
The United Kingdom has entered a period of intense restrictions after a mutation of the coronavirus was discovered spreading rapidly through the population of London and the southeast and east of England. Most of the country faces a strict lockdown as Christmas approaches, and several countries throughout Europe have banned travel from the U.K. The British government put several parts of England into what's known as "Tier 4" restrictions after the spike in infections. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the new restrictions on Saturday. (Schwartz, 12/20)
