The United Kingdom on Thursday recorded more than 50,000 cases of Covid-19 for the first time since mid-July, confirming the deterioration in health at the origin of increasingly urgent calls to reimpose restrictions, such as the wearing of mask indoors.
Disappeared for weeks from current events and concerns, the pandemic suddenly comes back to remember the British.
The country has some of the highest contamination rates in the world and equivalent to the levels of the violent wave last winter, which caused a long confinement.
The numbers of hospitalizations and deaths remain lower, but also increasing.
The number of new daily cases reached 52,009 Thursday and the death toll has increased by 115 deaths, reaching 139,146 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
The British government admitted on Wednesday that contaminations could soon reach 100,000 new cases per day.
But he rejected calls to reverse the lifting of the last restrictions in July, instead encouraging those over 50 to receive a booster dose and unvaccinated young people to do so in order to avoid a turn of the screw on the approach. of Christmas.
“We are sticking to our plan.
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"The infection figures are high but we are staying within the expected parameters," Prime Minister Boris Johnson assured. “We are sticking to our plan. "Faced with the deterioration of the situation, calls are increasing for the government to apply its" plan B "which provides for a possible return of the mask indoors, encouragement of teleworking or even vaccine passports. The British Medical Association accused the government of "willful neglect", deeming the current situation "unsustainable" and calling for immediate action.
The government lifted most of the anti-Covid restrictions in England in July.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, competent in health matters, continue to impose the wearing of masks indoors.
This very liberal policy is one of the hypotheses put forward to explain the current degradation, which mainly affects adolescents and young adults.
Also cited are the low vaccination rate of minors and a sluggish recall campaign for the elderly, who received their first doses very early and see their immunity worsened.
According to the authorities' weekly statement for England, the number of cases is the highest among 10-19 year olds, with a record incidence rate of 1,366 cases per 100,000.
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Boris Johnson
Covid 19
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