Governments and scientists strongly criticise the removal of virtually all coronavirus restrictions in Britain, starting next Monday. According to them, prime minister Boris Johnson’s decision is ‘a threat to the whole world’. ,,It paves the way for the emergence of a resistant strains of Covid-19’, critics said.
In addition, a new variant can quickly spread all over the world, because Britain is a hub in international traffic. That is why this policy concerns not only the British but all of us. That’s the warning to Johnson.
The governments that are taking action include those of New Zealand, Israel and Italy. They are supported by more than 1200 experts. They warn in an open letter to the journal Lancet that Johnson’s strategy may lead to a variant that cannot be suppressed by the existing vaccines. ‘The government is about to begin a dangerous and unethical experiment. We call on her to suspend the lifting of the restrictions on 19 July 2021’, the text says.
,,In New Zealand we have always taken a scientific example from Britain and now they are abandoning even the most basic principles of Public Health. This is remarkable, ” says Professor Michael Baker, associated with the University of Otago and a member of the group of experts advising the government of New Zealand on Covid-19. He was supported by Martin-Moreno (University of Valencia), who assisted the World Health Organisation on this issue. ,,On the basis of current scientific knowledge we do not understand that this is about to happen’, says the Spanish professor.
Other international experts warn that other governments may follow the British example, as it suits them politically. ,’ I am indeed afraid of that, ” says William Haseltine, president of Access Health International, a medical think tank based in New York. ,,It is amazing to see that the number of infections is rising so quickly among a population with a vaccination program similar to ours’, the American adds.
He pointed out the extremely worrying increase in infections with the Delta variant of Covid-19 in Great Britain. It’s 50,000 a day or more – the highest figure in six months. Medical experts warn that that number could grow to 100,000 per day within a few weeks.
“These are particularly disturbing prospects’, confirms British ‘chief physician’ professor Chris Whitty.
The number of hospitalisations in Britain has doubled in the last three weeks and may return to serious proportions in the coming months. Last Thursday, there were 3786 patients with Covid-19 in the hospital, 63 people died that day from the effects of the virus infection. That is no reason for the British government to abandon its decision to give society full freedom. She hopes that the vaccination programme will reduce the number of people who become seriously ill as a result of Covid-19.
