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With 1.7 million people dead worldwide and hospitals overwhelmed, scientists are sounding the alarm about a new, more infectious strain of COVID-19 that has emerged in Britain and is causing a large increase in infections there. .
The new strain of COVID-19 is believed to be responsible for the doubling of daily new COVID-19 cases in the UK this month. The country recorded 35,000 new cases on Sunday, its highest level in history, up from an average of just 15,000 two weeks earlier.
The massive spread of this new strain of COVID-19 is yet another indictment of the Johnson government’s reckless and criminal response to the pandemic. By abandoning all efforts to eradicate the virus, the government left the population vulnerable and exposed to a deadly threat whose consequences are still unknown.
The new strain appears to be 70 percent more infectious than the variants that are currently spreading across Europe and America.
Although the new variant of the disease was first detected in September, in November it was attributed a quarter of new cases in London. By mid-December, this had reached three-quarters of all new cases.
Beyond reaching all parts of the UK, the new variant has already spread to the Netherlands, Denmark and Australia, according to the World Health Organization. “The new variant is out of control,” said UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
“This new variant is very concerning and is unlike anything we’ve seen so far in the pandemic,” said Jeffrey Barrett, director of the COVID-19 Genomics Initiative at the Wellcome Sanger Institute. Financial times .
On Saturday, John Edmunds, a committee member for the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), described the emergence of the new strain as the “worst moment of the entire epidemic as far as I’m concerned.” He warned of the “extraordinary infectivity of the new strain.”
Edmunds urged: “We will need much more severe measures to reduce the incidence. Worse than that, we are starting from a very high incidence already with stretched hospitals and [National Health Service] personnel under stress. It’s a very dangerous situation. “
On Sunday, countries in Europe and the world announced that they would no longer admit travelers from Great Britain, including Austria, Belgium, Italy, Ireland, Germany, France and the Netherlands. On Saturday, Johnson introduced a new level of “Level 4” restrictions, affecting 16.4 million people, including around 9 million in the 32 boroughs of London and much of the south-east of England.
The new variant of COVID-19 involves mutations in the structure of the virus. Barrett noted that 23 letters of the virus’ genetic code had changed, including 17 that could affect the way the virus behaves and spreads.
Scientist Laruie Garret noted that COVID-19 has undergone three major changes so far this year. Why is it happening? Because now there are many viruses in the world, spreading rapidly, [increase]probability of random mutations. Is the new mutant in America? Who knows?”
The emergence of this deadly new strain of COVID-19 underscores the criminal irresponsibility of the Johnson government and its policy of “herd immunity” in response to the pandemic.
In March, Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s top scientific adviser, stood next to Johnson and declared, “You can’t stop everyone from getting it, and it’s not desirable either.” On March 5, Johnson described his government’s response to the pandemic saying, “maybe I could take it on the chin, take it all at once and allow the disease, so to speak, to move through the population, without taking as many draconian measures. “
In August, former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn explained that in March the British government informed him that its aim was “to strengthen herd immunity by allowing people to die,” a policy that was justified by what he called “eugenic formulas.” Corbyn was silent about the government’s murderous intentions for six months.
The result of this policy has been a disaster. Almost 70,000 people have died in the UK. The country has a per capita death rate even higher than that of the United States and 50 percent higher than that of Europe as a whole. And now, almost a year after the pandemic emerged, it is spreading, in the government’s words, “out of control” in the form of a new strain of the disease.
For weeks, the Johnson administration has tried to use the launch of the COVID-19 vaccines, which will be available to the general public in a matter of months, to distract attention from its utter inability to take serious action to contain the disease. The media were happy to play along, seeking to drown the steadily rising death rate with uninterrupted coverage of the vaccine launch.
Johnson said Saturday that “the situation has deteriorated since I last spoke to you three days ago,” the day he declared that there would be no withdrawal from plans for stores to be open 24 hours a day and for stores “bubbles” from three households meet for five days at Christmas. The government first learned of the new strain “earlier this week,” he added.
These are naked lies.
The government spent the last week blocking demands by scientists to abandon their deadly plans and had even threatened various London local authorities with legal action for planning school closures three days before the official end of the term to prevent a further surge. in infections. Furthermore, Maria Van Kerkhove, COVID-19 technical leader at the World Health Organization, told the BBC on Sunday that the UK had been aware of the new viral strain circulating in “the south-east of England since September. “.
While definitive information on the origins of the mutation has yet to emerge, the willful and criminal inaction of the Tory government allowed it to spread uncontrollably. The new strain was detected at the same time that the government insisted on reopening schools, and then students were sent to universities a month later.
These policies were enacted because the government wanted to secure corporate profit margins in the vital Christmas spending spree and because they did not want to challenge the narrative that defeating the virus was only a matter of time.
Instead, placing profit above safety and human lives has led to an even more infectious strain of the virus spreading around the world in a matter of weeks.
The murderous actions of the Johnson government are echoed by its counterparts in every country.
In the United States, 320,000 people have died. In France, 60,418 have died and 26,414 in Germany. Be it Trump or Biden, Merkel or Macron, no one can believe a word of what these representatives of the ruling class are saying. His entire response from the beginning has been dictated by the interests of corporations and a super-rich oligarchy. Whatever the political coloration of the government, the policy is the same: profits are what counts and the lives of millions of workers are expendable.
Almost 1.7 million lives have already been lost worldwide and thousands more die every day. There is no time to lose! Emergency measures must be taken to control the virus!
The Socialist Equality Party in the UK, together with its sister parties in the International Committee of the Fourth International around the world, demands the immediate closure of all non-essential businesses and schools. This must be accompanied by full compensation for lost wages and small business income.
Trillions of dollars must be invested in healthcare infrastructure to treat, contain and eradicate COVID-19, and ensure that society is protected from the threat of infectious diseases in the future.
The claim that there is no money for these emergency measures necessary to save lives is a lie. The social resources necessary for the most vital public health needs of the population are monopolized by a financial elite whose interests are diametrically opposed to the needs of society.
It’s up to the workers to save their own lives! The Socialist Equality Party urges workers and youth who want to fight for this program to contact us today.
