British health service NHS urges Johnson to postpone Brexit

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In view of the tense situation due to the corona pandemic, the British government health service NHS has called on the government in London to extend the Brexit transition period.

A one-month extension of the transition phase would reduce the risk of a chaotic Brexit and thus take the already overburdened hospitals in the country out of the "immediate danger zone", the NHS leadership said in a letter to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday.

By relenting, Johnson should prevent “disruptive changes” from hitting the NHS as part of a no-deal scenario, while he had to contend with “the greatest challenge in his history” during what was already the busiest time of the year, it said Roll call on.

The NHS may not be perceived as an actor at the post-Brexit negotiating table, "but the destructive shock waves of a no-deal result could push the functioning of the NHS over the edge," said the NHS Confederation.

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Great Britain left the EU on February 1, but the country will remain in the EU internal market and the customs union until the end of the year.

In the negotiations between London and Brussels on a trade agreement for the time after that, some ultimatums have already passed and negotiations are ongoing.

According to the EU Parliament, however, the time for the timely ratification of a trade agreement has already expired.

Fight against mutated coronavirus

At the same time, Great Britain is currently struggling with a new variant of the novel coronavirus that has spread in London and the south of England.

According to the British government, the mutated virus is up to 70 percent more contagious than previous variants. 

Many countries in the EU and other parts of the world responded with border closings and entry bans for people from Great Britain.

As a result, freight traffic from the EU to Great Britain came to a standstill for the time being.

The NHS leadership warned in their letter that the current travel chaos was just a small taste of the problems that threatened without a trade deal with the EU.

Great Britain has one of the highest corona casualty figures in Europe.

More than 68,000 people in the UK have already died after being infected with the novel coronavirus.

On Tuesday, the number of new infections every day reached a new high of 36,804 cases.