A year later, frustrations and protests increase

LONDON – When the first coronavirus blockade was imposed across the UK exactly a year ago, most would have struggled to conceive that, 12 months later, restrictions on public and private life would still be in place.

With that now a reality, there are growing signs that the British public is getting frustrated by the restrictions, with anti-lockdown protests hitting the capital over the weekend.

Although the UK has outlined a roadmap for lifting restrictions, with the government aiming to ease most of the Covid curbs by 21 June, there have been smoke signals in recent days that the government does not expect normal life to resume even. so .

Government ministers and health experts who advised them made a series of comments suggesting that summer holidays are now “highly unlikely”, given the situation in other parts of Europe, where coronavirus cases are on the rise due to new variants of the virus .

Another health expert – the head of immunization at Public Health England – suggested on Sunday that masks and social distance measures might be needed for several years.

The government has also signaled that it wants to extend its authority to reverse any easing of measures and, thanks to the support of the opposition Labor Party, it should receive approval to extend emergency powers until October, despite a group of lawmakers within the Conservative Party. describing the movement as “authoritarian”.

Combine these factors and a summer of freedom for the UK public is starting to look more unlikely, potentially setting the stage for more public discontent, as the British are desperate to return to “normality”. Especially since the distribution of the vaccine continues at an accelerated pace; on Saturday, a combined record total of 844,285 first and second doses was given to those in line for the injection, compared to 711,157 people who received a dose of the vaccine on Friday.

March 23 is the first anniversary of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s announcement to the British public that the country would go into confinement, with the government implementing unprecedented peacetime measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus that first appeared in the practically unprecedented period in the Chinese city of Wuhan, in December 2019.

So when Johnson made the first “stay at home” announcement, which citizens have become accustomed to, the UK reported a daily jump in the number of deaths from the virus, with 335 deaths in 24 hours in hospitals and staff from struggling to understand Covid-19 and effective treatments.

A year later, the United Kingdom has the shameful position of having registered the fifth largest number of coronavirus cases in the world, after the USA, Brazil, India and Russia, according to a count by Johns Hopkins University. To date, the UK has reported more than 4.3 million infections and more than 126,000 deaths – the fifth highest number of deaths in the world, after the USA, Brazil, Mexico and India.

A minute of silence will be held in the UK on Tuesday to reflect on the deaths caused by the virus.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a statement that “the past 12 months have taken a heavy toll on all of us, and I offer my sincere condolences to those who have lost loved ones.” He added that the country showed “great spirit demonstrated by our nation last year.”

The reasons behind the highest number of deaths in the UK, compared to their continental counterparts in continental Europe, are multiple, but the underlying factors include a higher rate of obesity, pre-existing health conditions and socioeconomic factors.

The government, for its part, received intense criticism that it blocked too late, failed to implement border controls and checks from travelers arriving in the UK, failed to adequately protect healthcare professionals and administered an inadequate testing and tracking system still considered below average. In short, he was accused of not being prepared for a pandemic and of mismanaging one when it arrived.

On a positive note, and a saving grace, has been the UK’s highly regarded scientific community, which has been at the forefront of research on the virus, its effects and tests looking for the best way to fight it. In June 2020, for example, UK health experts led by the University of Oxford found that a low-cost steroid treatment, Dexamethasone, could greatly reduce the risk of death when given to the most seriously ill Covid patients.

An even greater breakthrough came when the University of Oxford and the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, successfully developed and tested one of a handful of effective vaccines, with the creation of the injection even more remarkable, as it may take years to develop vaccines. Vaccine research in the UK has also been driven by government funding.

The United Kingdom was the first country in the world to approve and implant the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in early December and quickly started a national immunization program that gained momentum.

In January, the AstraZeneca vaccine was added to the arsenal and the vaccination program was gaining momentum, surprising even the most cynical Britons and earning the praise of the country’s health experts and the National Health Service for its bold decision-making and well-managed exit. from the bed.

Unlike other countries in Europe, which mistakenly questioned the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine in people over 65, the UK initiated mass immunization with the elderly and prioritized health professionals.

Health experts also considered (criticized at the time, but now replicated in other countries) that the gap between the first and second doses of the coronavirus vaccines being implanted should be extended by up to 12 weeks in order to offer more initial protection to more people .

The decision was justified by subsequent clinical data, showing that the strategy was effective and even increased the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine. The launch exceeded expectations; as of March 20, more than 27.6 million British adults have received the first dose of a vaccine and more than 2.2 million have received the second vaccine, according to government data.

There is a palpable concern among the public – especially those who oppose the block in the first place – and also in the business community, for the reopening of society. Protests against the blockade in London last weekend drew several thousand protesters who shouted “Freedom!” as they marched through the capital. Later, fights between the police and protesters led to more than 30 arrests.

So when it comes to the vaccine, it has been a case of “so far, so good”. The UK has seen the benefit with the number of new cases, hospitalizations and deaths steadily declining.

The speed of launch was considered critical, at a time when new variants of the virus emerged and threatened to undermine the positive effects of vaccines.

Continental Europe is seeing the ramifications of its implementation perhaps understandably slower, given the fact that the EU chose to order vaccines as a bloc and, crucially, ordered after the UK and the US

In addition to slower supply and production problems, the EU had to deal with the vaccine’s hesitation, which is not prevalent in the UK, and bureaucracy, again a factor not so much in Britain, where the health service It is widely connected-up and centralized system well connected.

But this week the UK faces a potential challenge for its implementation if EU leaders, meeting virtually on Thursday, decide to block Covid vaccine exports made to the bloc to countries such as the UK, which are further ahead in their countries. immunization programs.

Johnson tried to calm that movement by talking to his colleagues in France and Germany over the weekend. But if the EU moves forward, the UK could face new supply bottlenecks; is already predicting a supply shortage due to a reported delay in exports from an Indian factory.

The delays could cost Britain its hitherto successful launch and citizens its freedoms, although the government has said it still plans to offer a first dose of a vaccine to all adults by 31 July.