Scientists have warned there can be no early easing of lockdown rules, as ministers toughen messaging amid concerns the newer COVID-19 variant may be more fatal than the original virus.Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged people to stay home and follow the rules after he revealed the new variant, which emerged in the southeast of England, may cause “a higher degree of mortality”.He and a number of experts have also warned that lifting restrictions too soon would simply lead to another lockdown, leaving the UK with no hope of a return to normality any time soon.The shift in tone comes as a series of hard-hitting government adverts launched on Friday evening, asking Britons if they “can look coronavirus patients in the eye”.The first of the new adverts, aired on ITV and Channel 4, features COVID-19 patients and the staff looking after them at Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital. Advertisement It begins with a room full of doctors trying to save someone in intensive care before showing the faces of those very ill with the virus and the medics taking care of them.They remain silent, staring at the viewer, before a voice asks: “Can you look them in the eyes and tell… Read full this story
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