UK withdraws social distancing, government is called immoral

Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —

English started lifting most social distancing rules today, Monday (19/7), ignoring health experts’ warnings of the dangers of increasing cases Covid-19 that threatens the country. Experts also consider the government immoral.

Across the UK, citizens are celebrating “Freedom Day” as the government lifts social distancing rules, including the obligation to wear masks, because they think they have managed to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.

With this rule, all entertainment venues, including nightclubs, cinemas, and malls, even sports stadiums are one hundred percent operational.

The residents immediately flooded the nightclubs, one of which was Nicola Webster Calliste, who came to the entertainment venue with her friends.

“I thought, yeah, we missed the New Year, so why not celebrate now? It’s like a new chapter,” he told AFP.

While most citizens rejoice, health experts in the UK are inflamed. They said they were upset that the government had not heeded their warnings about the dangers of a spike in Covid-19.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson did state that Britain could relax the rules because their vaccination program was successful, especially since the type of vaccine used was also superior, such as Moderna.

However, experts warn that the spike in Covid-19 cases in the UK is still very high, especially with the emergence of the Delta variant of the corona virus.

“This government policy is immoral and is epidemiological folly,” said Gabriel Scally, a public health expert from the University of Bristol.

On Friday (16/7) alone, Covid-19 cases in the UK reached 51,870 in 24 hours. The UK government reported that Friday’s daily Covid-19 case was the highest since mid-January.

Of the total data, 3,964 of them underwent treatment at the hospital. The number of hospitalizations is also the highest since last March.

The UK’s Chief Medical Officer, Chris Whitty, said the number of hospitalizations for Covid-19 in his country had doubled in three weeks.

According to him, if this trend persists, the UK could face a spike in hospitalizations reaching “terrible numbers.”

[Gambas:Video CNN]

Whitty also reminded that the UK is actually still not ready to relax the rules, especially with the emergence of the Delta variant of Covid-19 which now dominates cases in the country.

He also considers the vaccination program that will be the mainstay of the British government in tackling this pandemic is also not enough if it is not accompanied by strict rules.

“We have not recovered from all of this at all. We are indeed better off because of the vaccine program, drugs, etc. However, the UK still has a long way to go, let alone the world,” Whitty was quoted as saying. Associated Press.

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