Status: 05.07.2021 2:33 p.m.
In England there should no longer be any corona restrictions in the future – despite the sharp rise in incidence numbers. Premier Johnson announced this in a press release. The end of the mask requirement in particular has met with criticism.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants to largely lift the remaining corona measures in England by July 19, despite the increasing number of infections. This emerges from a communication from the government. Johnson wants to present the plans at a press conference later in the day.
In Great Britain, the number of infections has been rising sharply for weeks. The seven-day incidence, i.e. the number of new infections per 100,000 people within a week, was last given as 214. More than 24,000 new infections were registered on Sunday alone. The reason for this is the highly contagious Delta variant, which now accounts for almost all cases in Great Britain.
86 percent of adults are vaccinated
At the same time, the number of deaths with 122 Covid deaths within a week is currently still at a relatively low level. Hospital admissions have also not increased to the same extent as the number of infections. The government attributes this to the successful vaccination campaign. 86 percent of adults in the UK are now vaccinated at least once. Almost 64 percent of people over the age of 18 already have both vaccinations.
The government in London assumes that the number of infections will continue to rise, but one must now learn to live with the virus. Containing the pandemic should in future be left to the people themselves. “As we learn to live with the virus, we must all continue to be careful with the risks posed by Covid-19 and make trade-offs in daily life,” Johnson said, according to the statement.
Criticism from the NHS health service
The planned repeal of the Corona rules will initially apply to the largest part of England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland make their own decisions about their actions. However, there are critical voices from experts and representatives of the NHS health service. You are in a “pretty tense situation,” said Saffron Cordery of the NHS Providers hospital association. Although the number of Covid patients is not as high as in previous waves, there is also an enormous backlog of other treatments that have been postponed in the pandemic.
Above all, the planned end of the mask requirement met with incomprehension. “We know masks work,” said NHS England primary health care provider Nikki Kanani to Times Radio. The head of the BMA doctors’ union, Chaand Nagpaul, said in the BBC that it is incomprehensible that “people are knowingly exposed to an infection risk” in a time of high infection rates.
Behavioral psychologist Stephen Reicher from the University of St. Andrews, who is advising the government on the pandemic, also warned of an end to the mask requirement. He compared wearing a mask with speed limits in traffic. “My freedom to drive fast affects the safety of others. My freedom not to wear a mask has an impact on the safety of others from Covid disease. Regulation is necessary in these areas, according to Reicher in the BBC.