Covid-19 in the United Kingdom: the government accused of waiting for the Indian variant
In a hospital, in Cambridge (United Kingdom) © Neil Hall / AP
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
The United Kingdom begins this Monday, May 17 a new stage of its gradual deconfinement with the reopening of indoor restaurants but also museums and theaters.
But at the same time, concern is growing around the Indian variant.
And the British government is accused of having taken too long to react.
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With our correspondent in London,
Claire Digiacomi
Could the
spread of the
Indian variant
in the UK have been avoided?
This is the question posed by the British press in recent days when 1,300 cases have been identified in the country.
This figure is admittedly low, but it could become significant given its speed of contagion.
In just one week, this figure has doubled in the
United Kingdom
and could call into question the last stage of deconfinement scheduled for June 21.
At the same time, the British government is implicated in the spread of the Indian variant.
He is accused of having delayed too long in placing the country of Narendra Modi on the red list.
Hundreds of potentially contaminated travelers were therefore able to enter British territory.
Boris Johnson's trip to New Delhi
At the heart of this controversy lies in particular the date on which
India
was placed on the red list.
The
government waited until April 23,
three weeks after Bangladesh or Pakistan.
It was only then that travelers entering the UK had to self-isolate for 10 days in a hotel, at their own expense.
And the controversy swells.
Boris Johnson is suspected of having wanted to delay this decision because of a trip scheduled to New Delhi on April 25.
He was due to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss a post-Brexit deal.
The trip was eventually canceled.
But according to the civil aviation authority, 900 people were able to arrive from India every day before the country's passage on the red list.
For its part, the government denies that its relationship with India played any role in the management of this new variant, which it claims to take very seriously.
The distribution of second doses must, for example, speed up in the most vulnerable people.
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