translated from Spanish: UK imposes new measures against Covid-19 strain discovered in the country

Northern Ireland began a six-week confinement, while restrictions were re-imposed in Wales that had been relaxed for Christmas.The number of people under the maximum level of restrictions in England — level 4 — increased by six million on Saturday, to be around 24 million in total, about 43% of the country’s population. The region included London and surrounding areas. The authorities have banned meetings between people from different households and non-essential travel. Gyms, swimming pools, hairdressers and non-essentials stores were forced to close, while bars and restaurants can only offer takeaway service. Business groups noted that restrictions will be economically devastating for their members. Another 570 COVID-19 deaths over a 24-hour period were reported on Saturday, bringing the total in Britain to 70,195, the second worst in Europe — only below Italy. Britain also reported more than 32,700 new cases of the virus at Christmas.Fears about the new British variant have caused a week of chaos on the border. Around 1,000 British soldiers spent Christmas trying to clear a huge build-up of stranded trucks in south-east England after France briefly closed its border with the UK and demanded negative coronavirus test results from all drivers. But British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said Saturday that more than 15,000 drivers had undergone testing and that the delay at the testing site at Manston Airport was resolved by Sunday morning. Only 36 positive cases of these tests were reported, the first cases Twitter.Se of the new British variant of the virus have now been detected in France and Spain.

Original source in Spanish