[ad_1]
secondOris Johnson was beside himself. “I wish I had the guts to say what she really wants: she wants to cancel Christmas! But we do not want to criminalize the long-forged plans of the people that they made for the holiday season, “the British Prime Minister accused opposition leader Keir Starmer in the weekly House of Commons debate last Wednesday.
Now Johnson himself has canceled Christmas. Many decisions in the 2020 Annus horribilis were likely difficult for the British prime minister. But none of them tormented him as obviously as the U-turn on Saturday night. It wasn’t until five days before the festival that Johnson was able to decide to cancel the holiday, which is very generous compared to other European countries. Three households with an unlimited number of people were allowed to meet for five days starting December 23.
Christmas canceled: that’s the headline for this Sunday
Source: AFP
Millions of people in the kingdom had booked trains and flights, organized meetings, organized overnight stays. The families had undergone private Sars-CoV-2 tests for a lot of money and had already reduced contacts with other people for days to be able to travel with older relatives as risk-free as possible. Meanwhile, the Transport Minister cheered on Twitter that the government was funding additional intercity buses with 80,000 seats. After the national lockdown that ended in early December, we were very happy to have a bit of normalcy.
What was that, Pinocchio’s Christmas? This is really a new definition of Johnson’s postponement and postponement, ”the Daily Telegraph commentator, Johnson’s longtime employer and Conservative party spokesman, infuriated Saturday night.
Short-term decision
Like them, many English people will not forgive Johnson for the hasty decision he announced in Downing Street, flanked by his scientific advisers. “With a heavy heart I have to tell you that we cannot continue with Christmas as planned,” announced the head of government. His adviser Patrick Vallance said that “in December 60 percent of new infections in London were due to the new variant.”
Scientists had warned for weeks that the country would pay bitterly for the planned relaxed Christmas rules. The sharp rise in infections in America after Thanksgiving should be a warning to London. What the chief medical advisor was only now ready to say, his colleagues had been explaining for weeks.
More recently, the two journals “British Medical Journal” and “Health Service Journal” published a joint statement on December 15 that Johnson’s plans are “a serious mistake and will cost many lives.” Warnings from representatives of the national health provider, the National Health Service, became increasingly strident that the already overloaded clinics were on the brink of collapse due to a state-mandated expansion of social contacts.
In his short-term press conference on Saturday, Johnson placed great emphasis on the fact that his reversal was due to the spread of the genetic mutation. Downing Street is clearly trying to convey the narrative that the infection situation has only gotten worse in recent days. Several scientists contradicted this on Sunday. “The British government already informed us of this mutation in September,” said WHO expert Maria van Kerkhove of the BBC.
In London and other areas of south-east England, there has been a harsh closure with curfews since Sunday night.
Source: dpa / Stefan Rousseau
Susan Hopkins of Public Health England (PHE) confirmed that the government was informed in October of the mutation identified in samples taken in September. Last Friday, PHE alerted the prime minister that the mutation was extremely infectious and was now responsible for 70 percent of new infections in London and south-east England.
Critics accuse the prime minister that he should have seen the red flags much earlier. Especially since in Kent County, bordering the capital, the number of infections continued to rise, although the government immediately returned the mainly rural area to “Level 3”, the highest level of restriction, after the closure was lifted. national on December 2. This is attributed to the fact that the mutation was able to spread there for months. By late summer, the infection situation in south-east England was more tense than in the rest of England.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock admitted Sunday morning that the virus mutation posed additional challenges for government and agencies. “The fundamental problem is that we need more measures now than with the old virus. We know this because we saw in November that in Kent, where the variant first erupted, cases did not decline despite the shutdown, unlike the rest of the country. “Hancock agreed with the nation that” the measures now in place may they stay in place for a few months. ” Until the vaccines that started two weeks ago are widespread enough.
Regionally extended closure
Unlike England, for which Johnson has powers in the health sector, officials in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have previously introduced stricter restrictions. Wales had only emerged from a protracted regional lockdown a few weeks ago, but this failed to bring the numbers down significantly. Scotland had also closed schools, while those in England remained open. The “holiday break” that lasts for several days is now reduced to Christmas Day.
Exactly a year ago, the newly elected Prime Minister Boris Johnson stood in Downing Street and wished the British a Merry Christmas with a sparkle in his eyes. Twelve months later, this wish has become a curse for him.
