After two months of cautious but constant easing, the UK government has tightened pandemic guidelines in parts of the country.

In eight municipalities in central and northern England, citizens were urged to stop traveling and to stop meeting indoors.

At the same time, nobody should travel to the areas.

Jochen Buchsteiner

Political correspondent in London.

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    Affected are Bolton, Blackburn, Kirklees, Bedford, Burnley, Leicester, Hounslow and North Tyneside. The so-called Indian variant has become particularly widespread there. The opposition Labor Party spoke of a "quasi-lockdown through the back door" because the restrictions had not been publicly announced. The mayor of North Tyneside called the measures "inappropriate". The number of infections with the Indian virus variant has increased significantly in the particularly affected areas since the beginning of May. However, hospitals have so far only been negatively impacted by the sick.

    The number of corona deaths in the kingdom has been falling for weeks, on Monday it was three people.

    Infections with variant B.1.617.2 have now been registered in almost half of all municipalities.

    According to official estimates, the variant is 20 to 30 percent more contagious than the predominant British variant B.1.1.7.

    However, it hardly reacts differently to the approved vaccines.

    More than 72 percent of the population have now been vaccinated with at least one dose.

    Experts suspect that the Indian variant, like the British before it, will become the dominant one.

    The ban on meeting in apartments was recently lifted across the country.

    Meanwhile, the hopes of the British are sinking that the final opening step, planned for June 21, will return to normal. The Daily Telegraph reported government plans to maintain isolation after contact with someone who tested positive. It will also apply to people who have been vaccinated twice, it said. The newspaper quoted a government official as arguing that fully vaccinated people could spread the virus. The state secretary responsible for the vaccination strategy, Nadhim Zahawi, announced on Tuesday that the government was examining whether the isolation requirement could be replaced by “regular testing”.