Covid 19 coronavirus: Trump slams UK's tightening of restrictions

Donald Trump. Photo / AP

The UK's decision to tighten lockdown rules has been slammed by US president Donald Trump as a new strain of coronavirus was discovered in England.

London and parts of southeast England will go into what is being called 'tier 4 lockdown' on Sunday,

It is the highest level of the coronavirus alert system in the UK.

Trump took to Twitter on Saturday to make it clear he disagreed with the move.

"We don't want to have lockdowns. The cure cannot be worse than the problem itself!" he said in a reply to the news.

We don’t want to have lockdowns. The cure cannot be worse than the problem itself! https://t.co/sHBJfG9T8X

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 19, 2020

The number of cases in England has soared in the last two weeks because of a variant of the coronavirus is up to 70 per cent more transmissible, according to scientists.

UK PM Boris Johnson told a Downing Street briefing that the "new variant of the virus" had altered the government's understanding of the coronavirus situation in the country.

"Because the science is clearly changing and has changed in the sense that our understanding of this new virus, its transmissibility, has been radically shifted just in the last 24 hours," Johnson said.

"We simply can't ignore that and that's why we're taking these extra steps today to protect the country."

People in tier 4 areas will be required to stay at home except for essential reasons such as work. Non-essential retail will close, as will indoor leisure and entertainment. Social mixing will be limited to meeting one other person in an outdoor space.

Trump has expressed numerous times that he is against imposing another nationwide lockdown in the US.

He has been criticised over his response to Covid-19, with more than 300,000 Americans dying from the pandemic and nearly 17.5 million infected.