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The British people in distress from the pandemic will finally regain their freedom. Such are the hopes ahead of the prime minister’s line speech on Monday, when Boris Johnson unveils a timetable for exiting the pandemic. But many run the risk of being disappointed.
Twice down In 2020 England was forced into lockdown – tougher restrictions than anything Sweden has come close to during the pandemic. But it only helped temporarily. During the fall came the cruel counterattack of covid-19: B117.
It is short for the virus mutation that was first discovered in the UK and which means that covid-19 is spreading even faster.
The number of cases plummeted to brutal new heights. And just as the country was going through the difficult Brexit process outside the EU, Boris Johnson was forced to order a new shutdown in early January.
“The next few weeks are the most difficult yet,” said the prime minister on January 5, emphasizing that if nothing was done, the NHS health system would be threatened with collapse.
Vaccinations against covid-19 had then begun throughout the country, in record time for the Western world. But Johnson asked residents not to relax.
“We are entering the final phase of the fight. For every needle stuck in our arms, we shift the odds towards COVID and the British people.”
Millions of english So they were tired of the rules. Even during previous closings, there were many reports of people sneaking out to hang out in each other’s afternoons and nights, breaking the rules that could mean hefty fines.
Among the rules, which still apply, is that the only people you are normally allowed to spend time with indoors are people from the same household. All schools are closed except the neediest ones, and this year’s exams have been canceled. Most of business life, for example pubs, is closed, except for take away food and the like.
The measures seem to work. After precipitation to a very sharp peak in mid-January, the number of reported cases falls just as quickly.
“This is very encouraging news. In fact, we believe that the lockdown is working,” Paul Elliott of Imperial College London tells the media.
Participate in the study React-1, which shows a two-thirds decrease recently.
But, he adds:
“The real number is still very high. We just got back to where we were in September. “
And a comparison shows that, for example, Sweden saw almost as steep a rise and then a decline in the same period, without resorting to equally severe closures.
The situation puts Boris Johnson in a trench before Monday’s speech. Positive trends have a pressured business community and isolated residents cry out for quick relief. But if this happens before a greater proportion of the population is vaccinated, the spread of the B117 mutation may mean that the next setback will be at least as brutal as the one in January.
Several sectors have The last few days have come out with what they demand of Johnson.
“We need a clear statement on the international travel plan in the Prime Minister’s announcement,” Johan Lundgren, the Swede who is CEO of Easyjet airline, tells the media, for example.
However, according to the leaks to British newspapers, Johnson intends to proceed with great caution. His plan is said to be in four-week steps of gradual opening, meaning some kind of normalcy at the earliest in July, and then only within the country, not for international travel.
