see for we may not have been able to see for a long time, but to do so really carefully. and so it isn't about doing the maximum that the rules allow, it is about taking personal responsibility. the tears are an attempt to find a balance between the things that suppress the virus and the things that do minimal damage to peoples livelihoods and lives whilst achieving that. —— the tiers. there is not a perfect solution. in terms of the tiering, many parts are particularly north of england and the midlands have come down and stayed down using things which are very similar to tier 3 from a high level, and at several places have managed to hold the line with things that are very similar to tier 2, so

the tiers in many errors are working. but things have escalated in london, and it is now clearly time to move over to tier 3, which is why we have made the decision today. it would be difficult to get on top of things in kent and essex and other parts of the south—east while at london rates continue to rise, because there is so much traffic to an amount —— so much traffic to an amount —— so much traffic in and out of london. serving it is important that london goes on to tier 3 today as well as other areas of essex and hertfordshire in this decision. so the tiering is not a perfect tool, because the idea of perfection is not possible, but what is is an ability to escalate up and in due course once the vaccines are properly getting to roll out, once we are getting closer to spring, to be able to escalate down. this is obvious that something which can go in both directions, such as an ability to flex the system, but no body would like to be in the situation that the world is and all

of europe is at the moment. we are trying to balance two very difficult times. thank you. next question from the times. —— the times. we cannot hear you, chris. no. the times. —— the times. we cannot hearyou, chris. no. let's go on the times. —— the times. we cannot hear you, chris. no. let's go on to politics home and try to come back to the times after all the questions if we can. thank you. a question for professor chris whitty on the variant that has been found. could you tell us a bit more about exactly when this was discovered, what was the date, and also there was reference in the commons earlier to it being found in other countries, could you say which other countries it has been found in? and are the symptoms exactly the same between the different strains of

coronavirus? and on christmas, just wanted to go back to this, is this really christmas at any cost? are there no circumstances, particularly in relation to cases rising, in which the government will look at the rules again? that is a question for matt hancock. and lastly, for a family in london, they have a teenager who is at a school weather has been a high number of coronavirus cases, should that teenager then go and spend christmas with their elderly relatives? thanks very much. i have given the answer on christmas to the same question several times now. we are really clear about the way that we think about it. of course people should be careful, for instance teenager is going to stay with grandparents, we need to be really careful about that, and we need to take very seriously the high number of cases we have seen which, in london,

especially in north—east london, started with a sharp increase of children at school age but has now spread to all ages across the population. on the first question, i will hand over to chris whitty. the data has been brought together very recently, some of it is obviously related to specimens taken much earlier, so there is an ability to track it over time, one of the reasons we can see that it has expanded over time. but that is looking backwards. in terms of the data being pooled together, though it has been a lot of analysis done over the last few days, and now to try and work out what this means and, for example, what it means in terms of the vaccines and so on. so this is a continual picture. in terms of other countries involved, some countries have had things that look quite similar to the spot may be unrelated, and others may well have something similar but again they are now looking at us properly. this has been loaded up, there is an international database of all the variants. the uk is one of the biggest contributors to that by some

distance. so other countries will now be looking at this, other nations, to see where it has spread to, if it has spread elsewhere, or indeed whether it has been spreading there even before the uk, we don't know that one way or the other. and in terms of the symptoms things, so far there is no evidence the symptoms are any worse or different from other variants of this coronavirus. and there are many variants. i think it is notjust this one coronavirus and this is the variant, there are many variants, it just happens that this one has quite a few more mutations than some of the other variants. so that is the reason we have taken it particularly seriously. but there is nothing to suggest that the symptoms are different, that the testing is different, that the testing is different, or that the clinical outcome is different for this variant. the main reason we are raising it to people's attention is the question about is at spreading more quickly, which may be cause or effect but may not. thanks. ijust

wa nt to effect but may not. thanks. ijust want to add one thing, because it is not accident that in this country we have one of the biggest genomic testing services in the world, as well as the vast pcr testing capabilities. it is because of a consistent investment in genomic research over ten years or maybe longer in this country. and i want to pay tribute to the researchers who brought this to our attention, it is because of this huge surveillance system that we have built up, that they could see the problem in kent and went specifically to look and see if there was anything going on by sequencing the genomes of the capability we have built up, were able to come with this insight which we are able to discuss, and we worked over the weekend to understand the consequences and the

action we had to take. the problem is that the epidemic was increasing in london and its surrounding areas anyway, and the actions that you need to take out the same. but nevertheless, it is a tribute to british science and then particularly support that has gone into genomics over the past decade that means we are in a position to be able to identify the sort of strain, and then act on it. one thing i have had in the public debate is the reason why tier 3 has been brought in it to so many errors because the variant has been found? the answer is straightforwardly no. the answer is straightforwardly no. the reason that tier 3 has been brought in is because the rates are going up very fast in many areas. the variant not be contribute into that, but the reality is that that is happening across the board, which is happening across the board, which is the reason for making the changes. very good. thank you. next question is from nick, and then

after nick we will try to go back to chris. osprey. first to be secretary of state and to professor fenton, giving that lockdown appeared not to be working in london, with cases rising even before it ended, why do you think tier 3 will work now, and to professor chris whitty, is it wise to relax the restrictions to such an extent over the christmas period, and what do you think the impact of that will be on the mortality numbers from covid? thanks very much, nick. the thing i would say is that if across london and the surrounding areas where there are these sharp rises, if we all come together and follow the tier 3 rules and respect the social distancing thatis and respect the social distancing that is necessary, and do our bit, then we will get this under control,

get it down, and get back into tier 2. and it is that community response which is necessary, of course the rules in the tiers are important, but we have learned, as professor whitty was saying earlier, we have learned from parts of the north of england that when everybody in the community basically decides to make it happen, you can get this under control and fast. and the first place we saw this really working was in liverpool, about six weeks ago, when we put in the extra testing. the local leadership were very clear and strong with the public messaging, the rates came down, and everybody did their bit, and everybody did their bit, and everybody is part of something that is bigger than themselves, which is, can we get this city out of the tier? and we saw the result of that, because we —— when we came out of national lockdown, liverpool went

into tier 2. we are now seen this pattern in several cities in the north, we sought recently in manchester, and we have seen it ended newcastle, and we have seen it cross the ‘t‘s valley, where there has been very strong leadership, including from the mayor. and we are starting to see it in other parts of the country as well. —— we have seen at cross the ‘t‘s valley. we can do this, but we need to do it together. i this, but we need to do it together. , but it is also about how every single person behaves, and how the brilliant local media make sure that they echo the important public health messages. we can do this if we do it together. i entirely agree. let's be clear, the national restrictions don't have a positive impact on many parts of the city,

many boroughs benefited. and what we need to understand are the tools to that success, and ensuring that we adopt the preventative measures so that these restrictions do actually work. the challenge that we have now is that the rates across the city are relatively high, so we need additional restrictions to help us control infections. and tier 3 allows us to place restrictions on the hospitality sector, as well as limit mixing between households, two of the main drivers behind high transmission in london. as you heard earlier, we have also been doing intensive work to try to identify transmission in schools. so the combination of these measures will help us to continue to control the rate of infection. i hope that as the secretary of state has said that

this tier will only work if we pull together, and londoners have done this before, and we will do it again. so it is the actions and the decisions that we make today that will help to make that difference of the holiday period. but most importantly keeping rates of infection down is to be critical in protecting the nhs, and ensuring that other critical services are able to function and be delivered over the holiday period. so again, we'll have to pull together to make the tier work and make the restrictions work. on christmas, there is a danger i will sound a bit repetitive, but all of this is about balancing the wider needs of society with the need to keep the virus under control, and the relatively modest, actually, relaxation over christmas will undoubtedly put u pwa rd christmas will undoubtedly put upward pressure on the virus, we know that, that has been that everybody has made, all the ministers and all the. but the

feeling was that this is a very important time and the big but on this is entirely related to how many people choose to do this in a very minimalist choose to come together and do all sorts of things which they otherwise would not be doing if it was not christmas, that is where so people have just got to take this very seriously. people have been incredibly good at sticking to the guidelines. this is a limited relaxation in a sense which will have some impact on the upward pressure of the coronavirus. but the key thing is people havejust got pressure of the coronavirus. but the key thing is people have just got to be sensible. they have to be really sensible going on, because we want the routes to be as low as possible during and on the way out, really, really critical. final question,

back to chris at the times. thank you. can you hear me now? yes. apologies for that. can you put this new strain into context for us. how much of a concern is it? or, given that viruses tend to become less deadly is limited, it should be more relaxed. and to be secretary of state, you seem to be suggesting that there are circumstances in which you would considerably christmas relaxation, so when you say people need to take personal responsibility, do you mean by that that if we are planning to see elderly relatives, we should essentially be self—isolating from now until then? essentially be self—isolating from now untilthen? i think if essentially be self—isolating from now until then? i think if you want to see elderly relatives at christmas, we all know that the best thing to do is to make sure that you don't have coronavirus, and the best thing you can do if you want to see elderly relatives at christmas is to be extremely careful now about who you see. and that is the way to see

loved ones in a socially distance away at christmas, but do so in a way that is safe. and i will ask professor chris whitty to answer on the new variant. and if i may, because this is the last question, i also would like professor fenton to mention the vaccine roll—out across london, and also the importance of getting the vaccine for all londoners. i think that, getting the vaccine for all londoners. ithink that, in getting the vaccine for all londoners. i think that, in terms of background, i hope that what i'm saying would be really obvious, but this virus which will be with us now for the foreseeable future will continue to produce mutations over time. many of these willjust die out, we will never know about them, they will not provide any benefit to they will not provide any benefit to the virus, some will spread but they don't make any difference one way or the other. a few of them will have new properties. whilst there is