The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, has decided to end the restrictions imposed by the pandemic on July 19, after the postponement caused by the emergence of the Delta variant that, these days, is responsible for the strong resurgence that affects England. The resolution lifts, among other restrictions, mandatory chinstrap and social distancing.
In that context, the British Medical Association warned that the end of these measures will bring “potentially devastating consequences” for the country. “It is irresponsible, and downright dangerous, that the Government has decided to go ahead with plans to lift the remaining coronavirus restrictions on July 19,” the BMA said in a statement. The Government is reneging on its own promise to be guided by data and impact on the NHS (public health system),” the note added. BMA President Chaand Nagpaul said the conditions are not in place to relax the restrictions. “We have been clear that any relaxation must depend on the vast majority of the population being fully vaccinated, which ensures that they receive maximum protection and that it translates into the control of new cases,” he said. For Nagpaul, the end of restrictions, in this context, will give the virus a chance to reassert its control. That will increase infection rates, hospitalizations and people sick with prolonged Covid, which in turn could lead to the development of new vaccine-resistant variants and put more lives at risk unnecessarily, he said. In the UK, according to data from Our World In Data, 51.37% of the population has already completed their vaccination schedule.
The UK on Monday reported 34,810 cases of Covid-19, but only 6 deaths. These figures suggest that vaccination is sufficient to control this new variant, since the number of fatalities does not follow the trend of infections. Sajid Javid, Britain’s health minister, admitted that cases could reach 100,000 per day after the end of restrictions, but was confident that vaccination will prevent a big jump in hospitalizations and deaths.
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