“Stay vigilant.” This is Johnson's plan to break out of the quarantine

Ayoub Al-Rimi - London

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson presented a new road map for his country to deal with the Corona pandemic, after the United Kingdom had become the world's second largest number of deaths. At the start of his speech to the British public, he said that "the country had been saved from a real catastrophe" that would have caused more deaths.

Johnson stressed that he understood that citizens paid a high price and made sacrifices by abandoning their lifestyle as well as their livelihoods, considering that all these sacrifices were made for the future of all and the future of children in particular.

He appeared aware that many of his shortcomings had been hampered by his government's handling of the epidemic, by acknowledging that more work needed to be done in terms of increasing the number of daily checks, as well as protecting the care homes that were the primary victim of the virus.

Johnson raised the new slogan for the country in the face of the epidemic, which is "Be vigilant, protect lives, save the health system," instead of the previous slogan that was raised at the outset, "Stay in your homes, protect lives, save the health system."

The new emblem raised a lot of controversy, as it was considered that it might send an incorrect message to people that they could leave their homes freely, which prompted the Prime Minister of Scotland, Nicholas Sturgen, to announce the refusal to adopt the new emblem, and so did Northern Ireland and Wales, and the three expressed their indignation. Of the new plan, she will not implement it.

The countries ’rejection of the Johnson government’s plan comes because they consider it is too early to change the quarantine procedures, and a study by the University of Imperial College warned that any lifting of the quarantine procedures could lead to the death of one hundred thousand people by the end of this year.

The roadmap,
Johnson presented the five criteria by which quarantine measures will be changed, namely ensuring the protection of the health system and a daily decline in the number of deaths, a decrease in the rate of transmission, as well as ensuring that a new wave of the epidemic does not return and providing personal protection equipment for first-class workers to cope with the epidemic.

In the last point, Johnson admitted that his country is still suffering from providing all necessary medical equipment.

Johnson said that a pandemic alert system, similar to that associated with the terrorist threat alert system, has been established, consisting of five levels, three of which have been talked about, the highest of which (the fifth level) is the epidemic reaching its peak.

The fourth level is the stage of non-control of spread (which is the stage in which Britain is still), and the third level, which is crucial for the rate of transmission to decline to less than one, and the control of the spread of the epidemic is announced.

Johnson emphasized that the priority will be to work to control infection in care homes and health sector workers, stressing that there is still more work to be done to protect the elderly in care homes, in addition to developing an electronic tracking system, to monitor the injured as well as warn those in their vicinity The presence of a person with corona, which will lead to a decrease in the transmission rate of infection.

He talked about three phases to end the quarantine procedures, extending at least two months. In the first stage, which begins today, Monday, it is based on inviting everyone who is unable to do his work from home to go to his work, especially in the sector of works, construction and manufacturing industries, on the basis that they avoid using public transportation, using private cars or Bicycles.

He also announced that people will be allowed to hike in parks more, as well as exercise, and take a long trip to visit natural places in order to preserve the mental health of citizens, and that it is possible to play and practice sports in small groups, in addition to allowing to sit in public parks after it was forbidden.

The expected step . As for the second stage, and if the infection rate falls below 0.5%, the government will decide to allow the return of primary schools only, and this step is expected at the beginning of next month, and the government is preparing a new guide for the return of primary school students.

As for the third and final step that the government might allow, it is linked to reaching the country to the level of the virus’s almost-disappeared, then - Johnson says - the government can allow the reopening of restaurants, cinemas, and public entertainment, but it is a step that remains elusive, at least in the coming weeks. And may remain for the end of summer.

Johnson also stressed that his country will impose on all who arrive in Britain the necessity of staying in quarantine for 14 days, while imposing fines on violators.

Johnson appealed to the British to be careful, because if the country has passed the peak stage, it is in a more dangerous stage, "because now we want to get away from the peak period and not come back again."