UK pubs and football stadiums reopen this Monday closely monitoring the Indian strain of Covid

Drinking a beer in a pub or watching a football match in the stadium is once again possible in England as a new phase of confusion begins on Monday, despite the fear of the advance of the Indian strain of the coronavirus. With more than 128,000 deaths from the pandemic, the United Kingdom, the worst hit country in Europe, saw its health situation improve after strict confinement during the northern winter and a massive vaccination campaign, but the advance of the Indian strain, above all in the north-west of England, it threatens to overshadow the scene. Given this, Prime Minister Boris Johnson asked the British for “prudence”, while considering that there is no reason to reverse the relaxation of the measures that began on Monday with the reopening of the interior of pubs and restaurants. The terraces had reopened in April, and hotels, cultural centers and stadiums with a maximum capacity of 10,000 spectators will also reopen this Monday. Likewise, meetings at home are authorized, with a limit of attendees, as well as trips abroad, although only some destinations are exempt from a quarantine upon return.In Scotland, where the local government drew up its own calendar of lack of con fi ne certain restrictions do not apply in areas where outbreaks persist, such as Glasgow. “High dose of caution” Johnson welcomed the new situation in a statement in which he called for approaching the opening with “a high dose of caution”. He noted that the spread of the Indian variant is “under close surveillance” and that “rapid action” has been taken to combat it. The number of cases attributed to variant B1.617 in the UK has more than doubled in a week, to more than 1,300 infections in the last seven days.Thus, a wave of infections could endanger the total lifting of restrictions in England, scheduled for June 21, warned the conservative prime minister. In the immediate term, to stop its advance, detection in the affected areas was reinforced and reduced the interval between the two vaccination doses to eight weeks for people over 50 years of age. The current interval is up to three months. Health Minister Matt Hancock noted that “there is a strong degree of certainty” that vaccines are effective against the variant. Since the start of the vaccination campaign in December, more than 36 million people have received the first dose, and about 20 million are already on the full schedule, about 40% of the adult population. The government hopes to have applied at least the first dose to all adults by the end of July. Up to 50% more contagious The scientific committee advising the government has remained secretive in the face of Monday’s grand reopening. He warned that there is a “realistic possibility” that the variant is up to 50% more contagious than the one that appeared at the end of 2020 in England. The latter caused a wave of infections and deaths that led the United Kingdom to a long period of reconfinement in Last January. The committee warned that the reopening could “lead to a substantial upsurge in hospitalizations, similar to or greater than the preceding peaks,” when health services reached the brink of saturation. Criticized for not immediately recognizing the magnitude of the health crisis at the beginning of the pandemic, the government defended itself from questions about the delay in responding to the emergence of the variant and not tightening the restrictions for travelers from India more quickly.He denied that the official visit that Boris Johnson planned to make to India last April was the reason for not subjecting British residents to a quarantine upon their return to the country, such an official visit was finally canceled due to the sharp worsening of the health crisis in India .