it's the news we were hoping not to hear
british prime minister boris johnson
says there's now
evidence to suggest the new coronavirus
variant first detected in the uk
is not only more contagious but more
deadly as well
the mutation has now spread to more than
60 countries and britain itself is
struggling to bring infections under
control
it's a relentless nightmare for
healthcare workers across the uk
the shifts are physically and
emotionally grueling
countless lives cannot be saved many
more people have been hospitalized
than during the first peak last april
and a coronavirus variant known as b117
is playing a significant role in the
suffering
scientists say it's almost certainly
more infectious
and now government health advisors
believe it could be more deadly
though they caution the assessments
based on sparse data
we've been informed today that in
addition to spreading more quickly
it also now appears that there is some
evidence that the new variant the
variant that was first identified in
london and the south east may be
associated
with a higher degree of mortality
the uk has one of the highest death
rates from covert in the world
almost a hundred thousand people have
lost their lives
with ethnic minorities
disproportionately affected
those groups are also more likely to
refuse vaccinations when offered them
so authorities are trying to tackle
mistrust and disinformation
mosques have joined the campaign to
persuade skeptical muslims
i think that the key message there is
that the vaccination is safe
the vaccination is effective and the
vaccination is halal
and permissible under all sort of
rulings of the religion
the uk has been making good progress
with inoculations
administering jobs to a larger
percentage of its population than
any other european country but the
government says restrictions won't be
eased
until infections have dropped and it's
sure the vaccination program is working
our correspondent bigger mouse is
standing by for us in london
are these new findings likely to change
the uk's response to the pandemic
this is the question being asked rebecca
but for the moment the answer from the
prime minister is
no because the uk is already in a pretty
strict lockdown
i live in central london the streets
here are really mostly empty because
people are not coming into offices
to work they are staying at home they're
working from home if they can
the schools are closed only essential
workers can send their
their children to school so so they say
it is already
um pretty strict however also we know
from from data that the
mobility is still a little bit higher
than it used to be in the first lockdown
so
so questions keep being asked exactly
who is more mobile and is that really is
that really necessary and
for example fines are debated should
there be more fines or more stricter
enforcement of the lockdown rules
what about travel restrictions could
this these findings lead to
tougher border restrictions both in both
directions
definitely that's a debate that's very
much being had at the moment
not only in the uk but also in the eu
some countries have already
banned uh flights and and ferries from
the uk like the netherlands for example
so this is uh countries trying to
protect themselves against new variants
so
this new variant is now dominant in the
uk and other
european countries are hoping that they
can keep it at bay because it is
more transmissible and now it seems also
uh possibly more deadly
the uk itself though also wants to
protect itself
because the inoculation program is
pretty successful here so far over seven
percent of the population have already
received a first dose so experts medical
experts are hoping that this will have
an
effect and the uk does also debate
whether there should be
border closures in order to protect the
uk from other variants
uh and across the world indeed well the
eu would be right to be concerned
because europe's coronavirus vaccination
rollout is facing a bit of a setback
with drug maker
astrazeneca telling the european
commission it won't be able to deliver
the agreed volumes of its covert 19
vaccine
within the agreed time frame astrazeneca
which developed its vaccine with oxford
university said it would have to cut
initial deliveries to the eu by 60
percent
the company was expected to supply
around 80 million doses by the end of
march
it's blaming the reduction on production
problems at a factory
in belgium
bigger the eu hasn't even approved the
vaccine yet and the company says the
delay will be temporary how much of a
setback is this
well across the uk and also across
across the eu there there is an absolute
race against time
because we know that uh obviously
vaccination the
the availability of all these is is for
the moment
is is the problem really across the
world so
so countries are basically scrambling
for for for vaccines
we know that in the uk there is a target
to until mid february to inoculate at
least with one dose
the most vulnerable groups of the
population but also
government ministers admit it's pretty
tight and this is
is it a situation that's replicated
um across the eu really well i'm being
at math speaking to us from london
thanks very much