Despite the progress of the Covid emergency in Europe, UK ministers have made it clear that the UK lockdown will not be lifted anytime sooner.
The British government is deciding on a three weeks extension of lockdown in order to avoid the emergence of a second wave.
As the country’s Covid death toll continues to rise, the UK government is set to announce an extension for three more weeks of lockdown. There is a warning that it is too soon to start easing restrictions. Despite the progress that has been seen in Europe, UK ministers have made it clear that the UK lockdown will not be lifted anytime sooner.
According to chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty, while the rate of infections is beginning to flat, the death toll continues to rise “for a short while”. Health secretary Matt Hancock said there could be no “let up” in the efforts to contain the spread of Covid-19, “We cannot let go of the hard work that has been done so far.” Foreign secretary Dominic Raab, who has been deputizing for Boris Johnson as he recovers from Coronavirus, is set to make the announcement following a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee.
Labour has said it will support an extension but has called for an exit strategy to be published. This comes amid warnings that it is still too soon to start easing global restrictions in the fight against the pandemic. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned countries that are relaxing measures to do so in two-week phases, in order to avoid the emergence of a second wave. WHO has said the world now stands at a “pivotal juncture”.
According to Neil Ferguson, the professor who helped shape the government’s response to the pandemic, Britain will probably have to maintain some level of social distancing until a vaccine for the Covid-19 is available. It really requires a single-minded emphasis in Government and the health system on scaling up testing and putting in place the ability to track down cases in the community and contact-trace. Because without that, our estimates show we have relatively little leeway; if we relax measures too much then we’ll see a resurgence of transmission.
What we really need is the ability to put something in their place. If we want to open schools and let people get back to work, then we need to keep transmission down in another manner. Scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health, whose research was published in the journal Science on Tuesday, said that “intermittent distancing” may be required for the next few years.