LONDON, December 23. /TASS/. Coronavirus spread rate in the UK continues to grow in December, says Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) report published Wednesday.

According to the report, the coronavirus situation changed to the worse last week. The base reproduction coefficient, which indicated the covid spread rate, grew to 1.1 to 1.3, which means that 10 infected people manage to infect a total of 11-13 more people. Last week, this figure was about 1.1 to 1.2, and three weeks ago, before the nationwide quarantine was cancelled, it was just about 0.8 to 1.

The incidence spike is caused by the new, mutated strain of the coronavirus, reported by UK Secretary of State for Health Matt Hancock. According to the official, preliminary research shows that this virus spreads faster than the previously known versions. On December 19, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that the new coronavirus could be up to 70% more contagious, adding that there has so far been no indication that this strain is more lethal than others.

The new coronavirus variant becomes dominant among the new infection cases - the majority of new cases in London, in southeaster England and in Wales have this new virus variant. This forces the authorities to take harsh measures to fight the infection. Meanwhile, some 50 states, including most of the EU, Russia, Australia, Argentina, Canada and Turkey announced temporary suspension of air service with the UK.