As part of Boris Johnson’s roadmap for the third coronavirus lockdown in England, June 21 is the first point to “remove all legal limits on social contact”. But official government guidelines previously indicated that the “hands, face, space” rules will continue to apply.
An insider has now said the government will end guidelines imposing face masks and social distancing for the summer in most areas.
Scientists would agree with the proposal to remove the rules, suggested by the task force on the recovery of the national economy.
They discussed a “maximalist” approach to lifting “non-pharmaceutical interventions” like masks and staying away everywhere except for a small list of confined places.
The Prime Minister is also said to be considering a return to the office, seeking to end the work-from-home order.
READ MORE: Travel between US and UK: Boris Johnson to urge Joe Biden to drop travel bans
Experts have warned that the Indian variant of Covid could delay the lockdown roadmap, after Public Health England identified it as a ‘variant of concern’.
Professor Christina Pagel, director of the clinical operations research unit at University College London and a member of the independent expert panel Sage, said a spike in B.1.617.2 cases means that the reopening of the 17 may have to be delayed.
The COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium, which tracks and identifies new variants, has reportedly registered 1,723 cases of the variant. The cases seem to be doubling every week.
Professor Pagel told The Guardian: “We have done it so many times – we waited until things really deteriorated before realizing that we should have acted several weeks ago.
“So why didn’t we take action several weeks ago – which is the case now!”
DON’T MISS …
The rollout of the vaccine in the UK has continued at a steady pace, after 135,113 first doses and 350,147 second doses were administered yesterday.
The UK has so far administered 35,722,461 first doses and 18,438,532 second doses of the coronavirus vaccine.
This equates to 67.8% of the UK adult population having received their first dose and 35% receiving their second.
Yesterday, 2,284 more cases and 11 deaths were seen within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test.
In total, the UK has recorded 4,441,975 cases and 127,640 deaths.
More about this article: Read More
Source: feedproxy.google.com
This notice was published: 2021-05-13 01:26:00
