Denise Welch and Kaye Adams clash over covid restrictions
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The Coronavirus Delta variant has assumed control in the UK, where it is now the dominant Covid strain. Tens of thousands of people a day have contracted the variant, with hospitalisations low but rising. The situation puts the UK in an uncertain position heading for July 19, when the Government is due to shed all of England’s remaining Covid restrictions.
Can we learn to live with Covid?
Everyone in the UK has adapted to Covid over the last year, but not as many would have liked.
Some people have come out swinging against the Government’s mitigation measures, longing for pre-pandemic freedoms.
The Prime Minister and his cabinet hope people can “live with” the virus in this sense by going about their daily lives with as little friction from Covid restrictions as possible while infections remain in the background.
Both Boris Johnson and Health Secretary Sajid Javid have signalled their support for such a policy.
Downing Street believes the comparatively few deaths mean the link between cases and death is “being broken”.
In a cabinet meeting, the Government allegedly decided the roadmap would allow people to live with Covid even if cases continue to rise.
And the Prime Minister’s spokesman outlined the vaccination programme, testing capacity and “other mitigations” that can keep deaths at bay.
He added: “We take every conceivable reasonable step to ensure the public are protected.”
Mr Johnson hopes he can treat Covid as the flu, known to kill thousands of people a year in the UK.
The flu is less deadly and roughly as infective as Covid and kills between 8,000 and 20,000 people a year.
By comparison, Covid has killed 128,000 people since the pandemic began.
Daily infection numbers presently sit at an average of 23,113.
Scientists believe the UK isn’t ready to shed remaining Covid restrictions, never mind living with the virus.
Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the British Medical Association (BMA), told Sky News it would be “wrong” to end all restrictions.
He said the latest data means the Government should also avoid giving the public “the expectation that we will have a pre-COVID society”.
The UK’s Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Whitty, has allegedly said mask restrictions should remain to chip away at infection rates.
In the meantime, some countries have already announced they will put use similar restriction-free measures similar to the Government’s proposals into action.
Singapore unveiled its own roadmap last week that would see a phased return to a relatively frictionless life.
Three members of the country’s COVID-19 task force – Lawrence Wong, Gan Kim Yong and Ong Ye Kung – have decided to graduate to a “new normal”.
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Their plan includes a change to the way they monitor daily Covid cases.
In the future, the country will stop counting daily cases in favour of outcomes.
These include hospitalisation, ICU intervention and total death rates.
They would have residents get used to Covid by allowing unimpeded travel and ceasing lockdowns and tracing.
Scientists have suggested the UK pursue a similar strategy, placing an emphasis away from daily infection rates.
They believe these fundamentally alter people’s behaviour and could see the public become “numb” to soaring caseloads.
Instead, ministers could shift their focus to a local level.
The NHS has already started experimenting with this, and their Covid app provides analysis for people by location.
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