Is #COVID19 ‘English mutation’ as scary as Johnson suggested? We don’t know.

“In his public comments, Johnson was relaying findings of an expert body advising his government, whose assessment was somewhat less alarmist than the prime minister’s version” https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/12/21/1015315/the-uk-is-spooking-everyone-with-its-new-covid-19-strain-heres-what-scientists-know/

Governments across the world, particularly in EU, have been struggling the past days with what to make of Johnson’s alarming public comments on Saturday.

They could see the domestic context: Johnson used the speech to make an unpopular u-turn on a Christmas lockdown relaxation.

Was Johnson using the new strain as an excuse to explain rapidly rising cases and justify his u-turn?

Virologists in the rest of Europe have raised doubts about what Johnson said, as has the WHO. https://twitter.com/tom_nuttall/status/1340916157772165121?s=20

It also seemed strange that earlier in the week the UK's top scientists didn't think the new strain was the reason for the increase in cases. https://twitter.com/Smyth_Chris/status/1340681583829929987?s=20

This put EU governments in an awkward position. Should they take Johnson, a man they generally do not trust, at his word?

They decided they had to, and thus we got the sudden closure of borders and cancellation of planes trains and boats over the past three days.

Today EU governments, at the urging of the Commission, have ended their blanket bans on transport from the UK.

They will instead bring in new 'urgent travel only' restrictions on UK citizens 8 days earlier than they were due to take effect anyway on 1 January because of #Brexit.

So why are EU governments ending the bans now just two days in?

Is it because the disruption to trade and traffic is too much to bear?

Or is it because they have been assured by their own scientists that this new strain is not actually the reason for the UK case surge?