NEW DELHI: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, called for an urgent meet of its Joint Monitoring Group (JMG) on Monday, December 21. It discussed the emergence of a mutated variant of the novel coronavirus in the United Kingdom (UK) which has increased infection rate in the country. In view of the discovery, India has suspended passenger and cargo flights to and from UK till December 31. A number of European countries have also banned flights from the UK after the Government of Britain warned that the new virus is “out of control”.
The British Government has called for a stay-at-home lockdown from Sunday, December 20, with all the non-essential shops and businesses now closed.
Boris Johnson, Prime Minister, Government of UK, announced the new rules at a briefing on Saturday, December 19, from 10 Downing Street. The planned relaxation of rules for Christmas has been cancelled with a Tier 4 lockdown from the three-tier system, to try and control the surge in infection due to new mutation of the deadly virus.
Johnson also said that there are no evidences to suggest that the new strain is more lethal or causes a higher mortality rate or it affects vaccines. However, further studies are underway to confirm this.