On Monday, Boris Johnson will put British citizens at the center of an experiment that will show how a densely populated country will respond to an increase in coronavirus cases after lockdown restrictions are lifted.

With Johnson’s support, the majority of the adult population in the UK is now vaccinated with dual vaccines. However, although these vaccines have reduced the number of seriously ill and dying of the disease after more than 128,000 deaths, the number of cases continues to rise. There is also little evidence that vaccines can prevent the worst long-term effects of Covid in infected people.

Although other small-population British countries such as Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have also been vaccinated, only England made this leap on Monday.

From Monday, almost all restrictions in England will be lifted. Mandatory use of masks will disappear, restrictions on the number of people who mix indoors or outdoors will end, and social distancing will be limited to people who test positive for the virus and airports, nightclubs and stadiums, etc., and they will be free to enter and drive at full capacity.

If someone is pinged by the NHS coronavirus tracking and tracing app, they will still need to self-quarantine until August 16, when the double vaccinated person will be able to continue to work normally.

As cases in England continue to increase rapidly, the number of people seeking self-isolation through the app is skyrocketing. In the week ending July 7, 520,000 people received the alert, raising concerns about the economic impact of the plan.

Even Johnson himself was not immune to the follow-up plan. Prime Minister and Prime Minister Rich Sunak received an alert after contacting Health Minister Sajid Javid and Sajid Javid tested positive for the coronavirus on Saturday.

Downing Street initially announced that the two would participate in the “Daily Contact Test Pilot” in lieu of self-isolation. This is a program that is not open to the public. However, only a few hours later, after public outrage, the officials changed their decision and stated that the two would self-isolate after all.

This was not the prime minister’s first bet during the pandemic: he ended the blockade on December 2 after promising people a normal Christmas, promising that he would eventually break the restrictions when he was forced to re-impose the restrictions. In the summer of 2020, the government actively encourages the completely unvaccinated public to return to bars and restaurants, and even provides financial incentives for this. He chose to act alone instead of procuring vaccines with European partners. This decision initially seemed to have paid off because Britain was ahead of neighboring countries in criticizing the people.

Johnson defended his latest decision on the grounds that the increase in cases was “expected.” He said earlier this month that in the past such data would have caused the government to “usually block more”, and the “continued effectiveness of vaccine launches” meant he was confident that the British could usher in their long-awaited “freedom”. day” on July 19.

Johnson admitted that this would mean letting us “sadly deal with more deaths from the new coronavirus.” However, he added, “If we can’t reopen our Society, when the summer and school holidays come to help us, then we must ask ourselves when we can return to normal ? “

Source : https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/18/uk/boris-johnson-covid-gamble-freedom-day-intl-gbr-cmd/index.html