July 19 has been dubbed “Freedom Day”. British Minister of Health Sajid Javid on Monday confirmed the lifting of almost all restrictions linked to the Covid-19 pandemic in England within a week, as planned by the government. And this despite the surge in new contaminations – more than 30,000 cases daily – because of the Delta variant.
From this date, social distancing and wearing a mask will no longer be mandatory, even if the latter remains recommended in closed and very busy public places, such as public transport. Teleworking will no longer be the norm, performance halls and stadiums will be able to open at full capacity, discotheques will once again be able to accommodate the public, bar service will again be possible in pubs and the number of people allowed to gather. will no longer be limited.
“There will never be a perfect time to take this step, because we simply cannot eradicate this virus,” said Sajid Savid. But summer and school holidays offer an opportune time, he detailed: waiting longer, until winter for example, could give the virus an advantage, at the risk of not being able to reopen anything. According to him, this great relaxation is made possible thanks to the success of the vaccination campaign, which made it possible to break the link between illness, hospitalizations and death, so that the public health system can cope.
Two in three adults vaccinated
It has already made it possible to administer a first dose of anti-Covid vaccine to more than 87% of adults and two doses to 66% of them, thus allowing the executive to achieve its goal of having fully vaccinated two third of adults on July 19.
But this campaign is showing signs of running out of steam, especially among young adults. Sajid Javid however stressed that by July 19 all adults will have received a dose.
After his Minister of Health, Prime Minister Boris Johnson explained his determination to “restore freedoms”, while calling for caution. For him, the time has come to rely on individual responsibility rather than imposing rules.
These announcements are raising the concern of part of the scientific community as the United Kingdom is faced with a surge in contaminations attributed to the Delta variant which exceed 30,000 each day. They could even reach 100,000 during the summer, according to the government. This major stage of deconfinement was initially scheduled for June 21 but had been postponed due to the resumption of contamination.