In less than a week, people in England will be able to give friends and family a hug for the first time since restrictions were put in place in March last year at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday said that he has given the go-ahead for that much-missed human contact from Monday next week as part of the next round of lockdown easing following a sharp fall in new infections.
Other easing measures include the reopening of pubs and restaurants indoors, as well as movie theaters and hotels, and allowing two households to meet up inside a home.
Photo: AFP
However, he said that people should exercise common sense given that social contact is the main way COVID-19 is transmitted. He also said people should remain vigilant to unexpected changes in the pandemic data and the spread of new variants that could bypass some of the immunity provided by the UK’s successful vaccination campaign.
“This unlocking amounts to a very considerable step on the road back to normality and I am confident we will be able to go further,” Johnson said at a briefing in Downing Street. “This doesn’t mean that we can suddenly throw caution to the wind... I urge you to think about the vulnerability of your loved ones, whether they have had a vaccine, one or two doses, and whether there has been time for that vaccine to take effect.”
The UK is recording about 2,000 new cases per day, compared with a daily peak of nearly 70,000 in January. Daily deaths have also plummeted, with only four recorded on Monday.
Johnson’s announcement was preceded with the news that the UK’s alert level was also lowered to level 3 from level 4 following a “consistent” fall in cases, hospital admissions and deaths.
It means that transmission of the virus is no longer deemed to be high or rising exponentially, though still being in general circulation.
In the easing in England next week, Johnson said that six people, or two households even if the total is higher, would be able to mix inside homes, as well as in pubs and restaurants.
The limits on outdoor gatherings would be raised to 30 people.
Indoor entertainment activities such as movie theaters, soft play areas, adult group sports, exercise classes and hotels are also allowed to reopen, while students would no longer have to wear a mask in class.
Since the lockdown started to be eased as part of a plan the government says is being driven by “data, not dates,” the mixing of households was only allowed outdoors, such as in a garden or restaurant patio, provided that social distancing was followed.
The government previously announced a tentative reopening of foreign travel from Monday next week, with only a handful of destinations deemed safe enough to ditch the 10-day quarantine requirements upon return.
Portugal and Iceland now have no quarantine requirements, but other popular destinations such as France, Italy, Spain and Greece would still require quarantine and a series of tests.
Similar restrictions are being eased in the other parts of the UK — Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — following a sharp fall in new infections as a result of a long winter lockdown and the rapid rollout of vaccines.
Although the UK has recorded Europe’s highest COVID-19 death toll, with more than 127,870 deaths, new infections have dropped dramatically.
About 53 percent of the British population have received one dose of vaccine, while more than 25 percent have had two jabs — one of the speediest vaccine rollouts in the world.
Though the backdrop is clearly much improved, there are concerns that the British government is being overly hasty in lifting the restrictions on social contact at a time when some parts of the world, such as India, are in the midst of a huge resurgence of the virus.
University of Bedfordshire professor of diversity in public health Gurch Randhawa is one who is wary and he cautioned about potential mixed messaging.
“It is no doubt tempting to relax social distancing, offer the glimmer of a much-needed hug, and lift restrictions on international travel, but this could be a big mistake at this stage of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Randhawa said. “As a minimum, the government should be advising only those [who] have received both vaccination doses to be hugging each other, and even, a short hug, with faces directed away from each other to minimize risk of COVID-19 transmission.”
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese