NewsThree months after Freedom Day - is the next...

Three months after Freedom Day – is the next big corona wave looming?

Britain appears to have largely left the corona pandemic behind. However, experts are now warning that freedom may not last too long.

London – There is not much left of the corona pandemic in Great Britain. On July 19, 2021, the United Kingdom lifted all corona restrictions and celebrated “Freedom Day”: Since then, public life has been back to normal. Schools, restaurants, museums and many other facilities can be visited without restrictions. Large events are also possible again – there are no contact restrictions.

After the announcement of the “Freedom Day”, experts warned that the corona numbers would rise sharply again. So far, however, this has not happened, only a slight increase can be observed. On Wednesday (October 13th, 2021), 37,855 new infections were reported according to the website “Corona in Numbers”. At the beginning of August there were around 29,000 new infections daily.

Corona in Great Britain: Experts have concerns despite high vaccination protection

The number of people who have died of Covid-19 has even dropped to 75 cases. At the beginning of the year there were sometimes more than 1,300 deaths per day, according to the editorial network Germany. Great Britain has a relatively high rate of first vaccinations at around 72 percent. Around 66 percent are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Büroangestellte und Pendler :innen gehen während der morgendlichen Rushhour durch den Gebäudekomplex Canary Wharf in London.

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Office workers and commuters: Inside walk through the Canary Wharf complex in London during the morning rush hour.

Scientists, however, also voiced their concerns about vaccination protection. Koen Pouwels, an expert on the progression of infectious diseases at the Health Economics Research Center (HERC) in Oxford, suspects that immunity to Covid-19 will decrease over time, according to the editorial network Germany. “It is a good sign that the number of people hospitalized for Covid-19 is falling,” he said. “But there is absolutely no guarantee that it will stay that way.” The risk of infection is increased, especially in winter, when people spend more time in closed rooms.

Corona pandemic in Great Britain: Serious allegations against Boris Johnson

With around 138,000 corona deaths, Great Britain is one of the countries worst hit by the pandemic in Europe. The winter in early 2020 hit Great Britain particularly hard. 4000 people were hospitalized every day because of Covid-19. The reason for this serious development was also the late reaction of Prime Minister Boris Johnson: While many other countries had already closed their borders and imposed a lockdown at the beginning of 2020, he did not decide to do so until March 23. Shortly afterwards, Johnson even ended up in the intensive care unit with a Covid-19 infection.

Johnson’s corona policy was recently heavily criticized in a report by the British Parliament. The reluctance and delay of a lockdown at the beginning of the pandemic last year was therefore “one of the greatest public health failures” in the history of the country, according to the investigation report. The dangerous view of politicians and advisors that the virus cannot be stopped anyway and that one should bet on an “infection” has cost human lives. According to reports, Johnson is said to have said, for example, that the age of most people who have died of Covid-19 is already “above life expectancy” anyway.

Corona pandemic in Great Britain – experts warn of an increase in the number of infections

You can currently see a lot of people in the UK on the streets who no longer wear a mask. According to the scientist Koen Pouwels, the change, the return to normality, did not come overnight: “It was not as if you flicked a switch,” he said, according to the editorial network Germany. Only gradually did the people in Great Britain get used to the new freedoms.

Auch wenn im öffentlichen Nahverkehr in Großbritannien offiziell noch die Maskenpflicht gilt, tragen viele Menschen keine Mund-Nase-Bedeckung. Rund drei Monate nach dem Freedom Day befürchten Expert:innen einen Anstieg der Corona-Infektionszahlen.

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Even if a mask is officially compulsory for public transport in Great Britain, many people do not wear a face-to-face mask. Around three months after Freedom Day, experts fear an increase in the number of corona infections.

How long people in Great Britain will be able to exercise these freedoms is unclear, however. According to experts, the current corona management could mean that the numbers will soon rise again. Up to 60,000 people could die as a result of this viral infection over the winter, the warning said. New variants also played a role. Since the population has not been exposed to the flu virus for a long time, it could be that the cross protection against new variants is lower, according to Pouwels. In addition, the population is only partially immunized, which means that the risk of spreading a new variant is higher.

Corona pandemic in Great Britain’s schools: Parents and teachers: inside criticize vaccination campaign for children

Teachers and parents also criticize the sluggish vaccination campaign for children and adolescents. The Minister of Education Nadhim Zahawi should not have an overview of the numbers, is one of the allegations: “Last week, over 200,000 children could not go to school due to Covid and the conservatives are sleeping at the wheel. Nadhim Zahawi cannot even say how many children were vaccinated, ”said Kate Green, MP and education officer for the opposition Labor Party. According to media reports, around ten percent of young people in this age group are vaccinated. The schools are almost without exception all open.

Johnson, meanwhile, remains optimistic and relies on the individual responsibility of the population. In view of the winter and a feared flu wave, he called for more people to be vaccinated. At the same time, however, the population should also return to their offices. “A productive society needs that certain something that only arises when you meet face to face – and by chatting at the water dispenser,” he said, according to the editorial network in Germany. (Anna Charlotte Groos)

Headline list image: © Victoria Jones / dpa

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