- Action: Boris Johnson recommends a seven-day voluntary quarantine if coronavirus symptoms are detected.
- Economy.The Bank of England urgently lowers interest rates due to the effects of the coronavirus
- A case in the Government: the British undersecretary of Health contracts the coronavirus
- Ireland - Schools and universities closed until March 29
Chaos and confusion have gripped the UK hours after 'prime' Boris Johnson predicted that "many families will lose loved ones" to the coronavirus . Despite the grim warning, the British government has set itself apart from the rest of Europe with less drastic measures and allowing schools to remain open. The avalanche of criticism was immediate.
"The government is playing Russian roulette with the British and we are facing a serious mistake," said Dr. Richard Horton, director of the medical publication The Lancet. "Boris Johnson claims they are following science, and that is not true. The evidence is clear. What we need is urgent action imposing closures and social distance."
Former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who heads the parliamentary committee on public health, accused Johnson of having become Europe's "anomaly" , compared to what other countries are doing. "What is happening is extremely serious. We are in a national emergency. Many people are very concerned about the decision to keep schools open and not cancel public shows."
Former regional health director in the North East of England, John Ashton, called the government's reaction "pathetic" and said that Johnson and his collaborators "are behaving like a gang of colonialists playing a game of cricket for five days and taking tea breaks. " Ashton urged the British Government to follow the Hong Kong model, with urgent actions and an informative policy of transparency regarding the spread of the virus.
The criticism has also been directed against Johnson's chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance , who on Thursday acknowledged that there may be between 5,000 and 10,000 infected in the UK (to date there have been 10 deaths and 798 cases have been confirmed). Speaking to BBC Radio 4, Vallance defended the government's strategy this way: "When you suppress something in a very strict way, it can sprout when you lift those measures and it can also do so at the most inopportune moment."
"Our goal is to try to reduce the peak (of the epidemic), not suppress it entirely," Vallance added. "And since most people develop a mild illness, we will thus be able to develop a kind of group immunity , so that more people are immune to the disease and can reduce transmission, while protecting the most vulnerable. these are the things we need to do. "
Patrick Vallance, a surgeon and vascular biology specialist, is assisted by medical advisor and epimediologist Chris Witty. Analysts also point to the influence of "behavioral scientists" in the orbit of Boris Johnson , also accused of "complacency" for the late reaction to the epidemic and for putting the economy before the health of the British (despite allocating the equivalent of 34,000 million euros to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus in its first post-Brexit budget presented this week).
Johnson himself tried to justify the decision to keep the schools open , hours after Ireland followed the example of several European countries and decreed its temporary closure. "We are not going to close the schools now," declared Premier. "The scientists' advice is that it can do more harm than good right now . "
According to the British experts, for the measure to be effective and to mitigate the "peak" of the epidemic by up to 15%, the school lock should last for 13 weeks ... "Closing schools has a serious effect on the population and has to be justified for very powerful reasons, "argued chief medical adviser Chris Witty. "One of the clear lines of this pandemic is that children contract this disease in a lower proportion than adults and that they are much less likely to become seriously ill and die."
More than 400,000 Britons have joined a petition to Parliament in recent hours to demand the closure of schools. "Based on evidence from other countries, the most realistic way to deal with the epidemic is by taking the most drastic public health measures that will be endorsed by most Britons," said Jimmy Whitworth, a professor at London. School of Hygiene and Tropical Measures. "I am surprised that at this point no stronger measures have been imposed, but I anticipate that they will be taken in a week or two."
PUBLIC SHOWS STAY
The Johnson government has also been criticized for failing to order the suspension of public shows. One of the most striking contrasts with Europe this week has been precisely the celebration of the Champions League matches with full stadiums , such as Liverpool's match against Atlético de Madrid in Anfield.
Without waiting for the official recommendation, the Premier League decided to follow the example of other European countries on Friday and suspend official matches until April 3.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta and Chelsea player Callum Hudson-Odoi have tested positive for the coronavirus test , and entire teams such as Leicester and Everton are in isolation from the possibility of cases among their players.
Even so, the British Government considers that the suspension of sporting events is "one of the least effective measures that can be taken" and that its contribution to reducing the "peak" of the epidemic is only 5%. Scotland has however decided to distance itself from England and ban the gatherings of more than 500 people.
At this point, the British are still not very clear about what the transition from the "containment" phase to the "delay" of the coronavirus consists of . Despite all the fuss caused by Boris Johnson in his first monographic intervention on the subject (faithful to his policy of minimizing his public appearances since he won the elections), the truth is that the new government recommendations to combat the epidemic They can be summarized in three: isolate yourself for seven days if you have a persistent cough and fever, wash your hands regularly for at least 20 seconds, and do not embark on a cruise if you are over 70 years old.
The popular vacation ads on the other side of the world are somewhat surreal in the times of the coronavirus. The British, yes, are taking it with enough phlegm and have not yet entered a state of panic . The only thing missing at the moment in supermarkets are disinfectant gels and toilet paper.
The streets of London register slightly less traffic than usual, but life remains more or less the same, with a feeling of relative normality. The Brexit negotiations in the British capital, initially scheduled for March 18, have been blown up. Municipal and local elections have been canceled until 2021 .
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