# Politics and News > UK, Canada, Oz, NZ >  Boris Johnson to address nation today after emergency cabinet meeting on coronavirus

## Neo

Boris Johnson will address the nation after an emergency cabinet meeting this afternoon amid fears of a third lockdown.
The Prime Minister has come under intense pressure this week over his 'Christmas bubbles' as Covid-19 rates soar in parts of the UK, with the country said to be on a "knife edge".
He will hold a briefing at 4pm today from Downing Street alongside chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty and chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance, Number 10 has confirmed.
It follows grim warnings about a new highly-contagious strain of the virus which has sparked speculation that a third national lockdown could be just days away.
Prof Whitty today said urgent work is underway to confirm whether the new strain is more deadly

Ministers met yesterday to decide how the mutant strain, which has ripped through London, Kent and Essex, could be controlled.
Medics warn that the new strain is 50% more contagious than previous Covid-19 cases.
In a statement today Prof Whitty said: "As announced on Monday, the UK has identified a new variant of Covid-19 through Public Health England's genomic surveillance.
"As a result of the rapid spread of the new variant, preliminary modelling data and rapidly rising incidence rates in the South East, the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG) now consider that the new strain can spread more quickly
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politi...gency-23192487

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NORAD (12-21-2020)

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## Neo

Millions more people in England are entering the toughest coronavirus restrictions this weekend amid fears a new variant is accelerating the spread of the disease.
Boris Johnson held an unscheduled meeting of ministers on Friday night amid mounting concern about the threat posed by the mutant strain.
Scientists familiar with the new variant say it is spreading fastest in southeast England.
*What is the new variant and why does it pose a threat?*
It has been named VUI — 202012/01 — the first variant under investigation in December.
Public Health England (PHE) said that, as of December 13, 1,108 cases with this new variant had been identified, predominantly in southeast England, although that figure is understood to have risen since then.
PHE believes this new variant includes a mutation in the spike protein and that changes in this part of the spike protein may result in the virus becoming more infectious and spreading more easily between people.
*What makes this new variant potentially so significant?*
Professor Sir Mark Walport — a member of the Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) — said there was a real possibility that it could have a “transmission advantage”.
“What happens with viruses is they do naturally mutate all the time and the ones that are likely to do well are the ones that increase transmission,” he said. “We know that this is a new variant, it has been seen in other countries but it seems to be quite widespread which suggests that it has got a transmission advantage.”
There have been many mutations in the virus since it emerged in 2019.
This is to be expected — SARS-CoV-2 is an RNA virus and these viruses mutate and change. But this variant has sparked particular concern because it appears to be speeding up the spread of the virus.
“Scientists are working extremely hard to work out what is going on,” said Walport. “But it does definitely seem possible that this transmits more easily. It will make the social-distancing even more critical.”
*Do we know for definite that the new variant is accelerating the spread of the virus?*
No. Ewan Birney, deputy director general of European Molecular Biology Laboratory, said the new variant had been growing “very strongly in the south of England” but it was not possible to say definitively that it was transmitting faster than others or whether it was because the number of cases in general was growing.
However, he added that most scientists “think it is going faster — that it really is a property of the virus”.

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Big Dummy (12-19-2020)

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## ruthless terrier

you can run from a virus .. but you can't hide. shutdowns or not .. eventually it will touch every human on the planet. that's the nature of the beast.

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Neo (12-19-2020),Oceander (12-20-2020)

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## Madison

Ah .......that covid hoax  :Smiley ROFLMAO:  
the World is getting 
more and more retard and insane /mental illness with that stupidity  :Geez: 
sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

They all have to get over it!

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Big Dummy (12-19-2020),NORAD (12-21-2020)

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## Big Dummy

> Ah .......that covid hoax  
> the World is getting 
> more and more retard and insane /mental illness with that stupidity 
> sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
> 
> They all have to get over it!


We need to rename the virus. The Totalitarian Virus would be the appropriate name. All it really spreads is totalitarian governments where ever it goes.

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Madison (12-19-2020)

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## Neo

> Ah .......that covid hoax  
> the World is getting 
> more and more retard and insane /mental illness with that stupidity 
> sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
> 
> They all have to get over it!




Ahhh you live in Quebec.


Population 8.57million
The population of Quebec and the size of Quebec against a modern industrial country doesn’t even register a blip. Citizens of Quebec seem to be living in a cluster then spread out living in remote cabins and houses. Nothing like a modern country.
Your demographics show this especially in that picture I provided. 

Of course to you Quebec hasn’t suffered, you are living in a bubble, you do not understand the seriousness of the virus evolving.
Sorry mate you are talking out of your well formed arse!

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## Big Dummy

> Ahhh you live in Quebec.
> 
> 
> Population 8.57million
> The population of Quebec and the size of Quebec against a modern industrial country doesn’t even register a blip. Citizens of Quebec seem to be living in a cluster then spread out living in remote cabins and houses. Nothing like a modern country.
> Your demographics show this especially in that picture I provided. 
> 
> Of course to you Quebec hasn’t suffered, you are living in a bubble, you do not understand the seriousness of the virus evolving.
> Sorry mate you are talking out of your well formed arse!


Your mates kept importing Africans into an already overpopulated island. Why? You made your own bed now lay in it.

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Madison (12-21-2020)

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## nonsqtr

Does the vaccine protect you from the new strain?

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Madison (12-21-2020)

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## Neo

> Your mates kept importing Africans into an already overpopulated island. Why? You made your own bed now lay in it.


I cannot see the relevance of your statement to what I posted.

My post clearly shows Quebec is scarcely populated and people like Madison are living in community bubbles, the virus isn’t effecting her shire/province like a European country because of the low density of population.

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## Neo

> Does the vaccine protect you from the new strain?


As from the new Government update by Boris and his scientific advisers the vaccine works against this new highly contagious strain. 
It’s been said the virus is evolving and Porton Down research facility is continuously looking at the evolving virus.

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NORAD (12-21-2020)

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## Ginger

> The Prime Minister has come under intense pressure


if he looks in his pants and still has 2 balls, then he can say NO :Tongue20: I can't fathom how people _let_ politicians practic_e_ medicine because, ladi_e_s and gents, that's _e_xactly what they're doing :Angry20: 




our geo-political enemies have bowling balls while we have mar-balls




in europe th_e_y're rioting against the lockdowns

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NORAD (12-21-2020)

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## Neo

> if he looks in his pants and still has 2 balls, then he can say NOI can't fathom how people _let_ politicians practic_e_ medicine because, ladi_e_s and gents, that's _e_xactly what they're doing
> 
> Poor Boris Johnson has had a hell of a year so far. 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> our geo-political enemies have bowling balls while we have mar-balls
> 
> ...


Listen o Ginger one, what we are seeing here is the south of England has jumped in cases of COVID-19, more deaths and Christmas festivities about to kick in.
This virus strain attacking us is now 70% more infective, he has to be seen to be doing something, if he does nothing he will be attacked, and because he is bringing in a lockdown in tier 4 he will be attacked, he surely cannot win

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NORAD (12-21-2020)

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## ruthless terrier

> a third national lockdown could be just days away.


destroy what's left of your economy and your sanity. no problem. everybody else is doing it. but not here in Florida. restaurants and bars are open. I hope it will be a merry Christmas.

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## Ginger

lockdowns _o_nly make things worse
citizens should decide for themselves what to d_o_

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NORAD (12-21-2020)

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## Neo

> destroy what's left of your economy and your sanity. no problem. everybody else is doing it. but not here in Florida. restaurants and bars are open. I hope it will be a merry Christmas.


Florida.   The home of the ageing population. 

What we have here in good old Blighty is a small island with heavily built up cities, a glorious road network, bus service and rail transport. 68 million of us.

Let me make a comparison for you in terms of how this virus would of effected.

Lets take Colorado, roughly the same size as the U.K. 

Colorado, it only has 7,695,564 people living there compared with about 68,619,000 people in England a population density 10 times that of Colorado.
If it had  more than 10 times more people living in it you would be seeing how a virus really works.




Edit.
Wait till America gets our new modified virus, 70% more effective in being infected.

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## El Guapo

Ahh... new and improved virus. _Now with 70 percent more virus!
_

 Magical virus that gets more virusy

 Didn't see that coming...


j/k


only a fucking retard didn't see that coming.

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NORAD (12-21-2020)

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## Oceander

> Does the vaccine protect you from the new strain?


I've seen reports that the vaccine should work against the variant strain.

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## El Guapo

> I've seen reports that the vaccine should work against the variant strain.


 That kind of flies in face of everything I've ever read about viruses and vaccines; how it's hit and miss with the 6 or so variants of seasonal flu when the experts are guessing which vaccine to produce in anticipation each year.

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NORAD (12-21-2020)

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## Dan40

Lockdowns, like socialism, even tho it doesn't work, keep on doing it.

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## Neo

> Ahh... new and improved virus. _Now with 70 percent more virus!
> _
> 
>  Magical virus that gets more virusy
> 
>  Didn't see that coming...
> 
> 
> j/k
> ...


Oh! I thought you were one of those retard virus deniers?  My mistake.

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## Neo

> That kind of flies in face of everything I've ever read about viruses and vaccines; how it's hit and miss with the 6 or so variants of seasonal flu when the experts are guessing which vaccine to produce in anticipation each year.


This is a different type of virus, the vaccines target the spikes receptors, normal flu virus doesn’t have the same method of attaching to your system.

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## Oceander

> That kind of flies in face of everything I've ever read about viruses and vaccines; how it's hit and miss with the 6 or so variants of seasonal flu when the experts are guessing which vaccine to produce in anticipation each year.


I believe it has to do with the part of the virus that the new vaccine attacks.  It's a more permanent part of the viral structure that doesn't change with every variant.

Flu vaccines, by contrast, typically attack parts of the virus that do change, so the flu vaccine needs to be remade for every new variation.

As I understand it, however, there is a research program underway (and has been since before the current COVID foolishness) to design a flu vaccine that would attack the more permanent features of the underlying virus, and so would not have to be changed each year.

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Neo (12-20-2020)

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## Big Wheeler

Boris's latest announcement tonight is that the port of Dover has been closed for 48 hours to trucks intending to return to Calais(France.)I assume that this must mean cars too and that the tunnel is included.Queues on both sides are going to be horrendous.One bright spot for the inhabitants of Kent who have been complaining about traffic levels for years;they have their wish.I'm glad it isn't me sat on the shoulder of a motorway for 3 days.

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## El Guapo

> Oh! I thought you were one of those retard virus deniers?  My mistake.


hardly

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## El Guapo

I'm certainly no medical authority...but I'm quite sure that vaccines don't work by 'attacking a virus'...they work by giving the body's immune system an innocuous or dead sample of the pathogen to fight in order to develop antibodies to prevent infection by the real thing.

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Karl (12-20-2020),Madison (12-21-2020),NORAD (12-21-2020)

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## Karl

> I'm certainly no medical authority...but I'm quite sure that vaccines don't work by 'attacking a virus'...they work by giving the body's immune system an innocuous or dead sample of the pathogen to fight in order to develop antibodies to prevent infection by the real thing.


Despite not exactly being of Medical "authority" I somehow TRUST ya more..

I understand Fast Track but this was Way 2 FAST..

All of a sudden we got 2 now..

Already been VIOLENT "Reactions"..

But eh Pfizer and Moderna making $$$$$

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El Guapo (12-21-2020),Madison (12-21-2020)

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## Oceander

> I'm certainly no medical authority...but I'm quite sure that vaccines don't work by 'attacking a virus'...they work by giving the body's immune system an innocuous or dead sample of the pathogen to fight in order to develop antibodies to prevent infection by the real thing.



Yeah, ok, so you got me for being really sloppy with my discussion.

The vaccination "attacks" a pathogen by causing the body to create antibodies to certain aspects of the targeted virus.  That way, when the body subsequently "recognizes" a real virus based on the vaccine-generated antibodies, the body's own self-defense system attacks the live virii at the same structures the immune system was primed to attack by the vaccine.

The question is whether the structure that was used to trigger the body's antibody system was a structure that is unique to each variant within a family of viruses, or whether it's a structure that is common to a large number of variants.

In other words, if one thinks of a virus as a brand of cars, like Chevrolet, the question is whether the body's immune system was primed to attack viruses with the label "Impala" displayed on their outer surfaces, in which case the "Malibu" variants of the virus will be left alone by the body, or was the immune system primed to attack viruses that displayed the Chevy bowtie emblem on their outer surfaces, in which case most Chevrolet variants will be attacked by the immune system, not just the "Impala" variant.

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Neo (12-21-2020),NORAD (12-21-2020)

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## El Guapo



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Madison (12-21-2020)

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## Madison

> I cannot see the relevance of your statement to what I posted.
> 
> My post clearly shows Quebec is scarcely populated and people like Madison are living in community bubbles, the virus isnt effecting her shire/province like a European country because of the low density of population.

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## kazenatsu

> My post clearly shows Quebec is scarcely populated and people like Madison are living in community bubbles, the virus isnt effecting her shire/province like a European country because of the low density of population.


Yet another example of how high population densities are antithetical to freedom and individual liberties.

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## Call_me_Ishmael

> Despite not exactly being of Medical "authority" I somehow TRUST ya more..
> 
> I understand Fast Track but this was Way 2 FAST..
> 
> All of a sudden we got 2 now..
> 
> Already been VIOLENT "Reactions"..
> 
> But eh Pfizer and Moderna making $$$$$


Ever watch TV commercials for medicines? Many have disclaimers about horrendous side effects that you are distracted from listening to while watching people live full, happy, and active lives .

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