LONDON – The British government today lifted pandemic restrictions on daily life in England, scrapping all social distancing in a step slammed by scientists and opposition parties as a dangerous leap into the unknown.
From midnight, nightclubs were able to reopen and other indoor venues permitted to operate at full capacity, while legal mandates covering the wearing of masks and working from home were scrapped.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is self-isolating after his health minister was infected, urged the public to remain prudent, and for any laggard to join the two-thirds of United Kingdom adults who are now fully vaccinated.
He defended the reopening – dubbed “Freedom Day” by some media – despite scientists’ grave misgivings after daily infection rates in Britain topped 50,000, behind only Indonesia and Brazil.
“If we do not do it now, then we will be opening up in the autumn, the winter months, when the virus has the advantage of the cold weather,” said the prime minister in a video message.
He said this week’s start of summer school holidays offered a “precious firebreak”.
“If we do not do it now, we have got to ask ourselves, when will we ever do it? So this is the right moment, but we have got to do it cautiously.”
Jonathan Ashworth, the opposition Labour party’s health spokesman, said the government is being “reckless”, echoing experts who said the reopening endangers global health.
“We are against opening up without any precaution in place,” said Ashworth, attacking in particular the government’s plan on masks.
After the success of the vaccination programme, which has now offered at least one dose to every adult in Britain, the government said any risk to hospital care is manageable.
But Professor Neil Ferguson from Imperial College London warned that Britain is on course for 100,000 cases a day, as the Delta variant of Covid-19 runs out of control.
“The real question is, do we get to double that or even higher? And that is where the crystal ball starts to fail,” he told BBC television.
“We could get to 2,000 hospitalisations a day, 200,000 cases a day, but it is much less certain.” – AFP, July 19, 2021
