London and parts of England will be placed under stricter lockdown measures from Sunday and travel from those areas abroad will be banned.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the new restrictions on Saturday due to the rapid spread of a new strain of Covid-19 in England which he said is up to 70 per cent more transmittable than the previous strain.
"It seems the spread is now being driven by the new variant," Mr Johnson said.
"There is no evidence that it causes more severe illness or higher mortality but it does appear to pass on more easily."
Mr Johnson held urgent talks with his Cabinet on Saturday to assess the threat.
He later addressed the nation with the government's chief medical and scientific advisers and announced new tougher measures.
England had been due to relax Covid restrictions for five days over the Christmas period from next Wednesday, allowing three separate households to meet indoors.
But now Mr Johnson says those in the new tier four, which includes London, the east of England and the south-east, cannot mix outside their households at Christmas.
In other areas people will now only be allowed to see three other households on Christmas Day only.
"As your prime minister there is no alternative open to me," he said.
"It is with a heavy heart we cannot continue with Christmas as planned.
"We are taking these extra steps to protect the country."
Mr Johnson said those in the new tier four areas "must stay at home" apart from essential travel and non-essential shops must close.
People in tier four, such as London, will be banned from travelling abroad except for work, must not leave their areas and can only meet one other person not in their household outdoors.
Places of worship in the toughest restriction areas will still be allowed to open.
The new measures will come into place at midnight on Saturday and will be reviewed on December 30.
Just hours after Mr Johnson's announcement a mass exodus began of people desperate to leave the Capital before the midnight curfew came into effect.
One train company told The National that within two hours of his speech many trains to the north of the country leaving Kings Cross on Saturday night had been reserved.
Prior to the announcement 38 million people in England had been placed in the government's toughest tier three facing the strictest restrictions.
The government on Monday had said a rise in infections might be partly linked to a new more transmissible variant of the virus when it moved London and other parts of the country into the highest tier of restrictions.
On Friday, Mr Johnson said he hoped that England would not need to go into a third lockdown after Christmas, but scientists have warned that urgent action might be needed to curb the spread of the virus.
Britain reported 27,052 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday and 534 deaths, with the reproduction "R" number estimated to be between 1.1 and 1.2, meaning the number of cases is rapidly increasing.
"This is a very major concern," Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust and a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), said on Twitter.
"Failing to act decisively now, will mean further suffering. We must keep asking ourselves 'are we doing enough, are we acting quickly enough'."
SAGE is due to meet on Monday to discuss how the current three-tiered system of restrictions could be beefed up.
"It has been apparent for some days that the virus is again out of control in parts of the country," Jonathan Ashworth, the health spokesman for the opposition Labour Party.
"The government's tiered system has failed to stem its spread."
Within minutes of Johnson’s announcement, shoppers hit the streets for a final attempt to stock up on Christmas presents and supplies.
At the giant Westfield shopping centre in West London, one of Europe’s largest, numbers were boosted by last-minute shoppers.
“It was fairly quiet all day, then suddenly there was this mass of people,” said one sales assistant at one large department store.
The UK's other nations, whose response to the pandemic differs from that of England at times, also took action.
Scotland said on Saturday it would impose a ban on travel to the rest of the United Kingdom, and the Christmas easing would be limited to just Dec. 25. All of Wales will go into Tier 4 from midnight, but two households can mix on Christmas Day.
Business leaders said the government needed to provide emergency support.
"Christmas was already cancelled for many businesses, but even more will now suffer as a result of this last-minute decision," said Adam Marshall, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce.
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
The five pillars of Islam
The years Ramadan fell in May
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
The years Ramadan fell in May
Tips for job-seekers
- Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
- Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.
David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
More coverage from the Future Forum
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Huroob Ezterari
Director: Ahmed Moussa
Starring: Ahmed El Sakka, Amir Karara, Ghada Adel and Moustafa Mohammed
Three stars
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre 6-cyl turbo
Power: 374hp at 5,500-6,500rpm
Torque: 500Nm from 1,900-5,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.5L/100km
Price: from Dh285,000
On sale: from January 2022
Fixtures
Opening day Premier League fixtures for August 9-11
August 9
Liverpool v Norwich 11pm
August 10
West Ham v Man City 3.30pm
Bournemouth v Sheffield Utd 6pm
Burnley v Southampton 6pm
C Palace v Everton 6pm
Leicester v Wolves 6pm
Watford v Brighton 6pm
Tottenham v Aston Villa 8.30pm
August 11
Newcastle v Arsenal 5pm
Man United v Chelsea 7.30pm
Herc's Adventures
Developer: Big Ape Productions
Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
Rating: 4/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
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Votes
Total votes: 1.8 million
Ashraf Ghani: 923,592 votes
Abdullah Abdullah: 720,841 votes
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