Are COVID Lockdowns Coming Back? UK Health Officials Urge For More Restrictions
The British government on Wednesday urged the island nation to get their COVID-19 booster in an attempt to avoid the plea from health officials to reimpose pandemic restrictions.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid's announcement comes after the U.K.’s National Health Service (NHS) urged the government to reintroduce mandatory face covering, working from home mandates and other restrictions, or face “stumbling into a winter crisis.” However, Javid said the government would “stay vigilant, preparing for all eventualities,” but would not trigger its “Plan B” measures of bringing back restrictions.
“None of us want to go backwards now," Javid said at a news conference.
He added that the public should remain cautious, however, as daily cases could hit 100,000 in the winter.
“We’ve got plenty of vaccines and we just need people to come forward and play their part,” Javid said.
This announcement by the government comes in direct contrast to the statement put out by NHS Confederation officials that said they are “seeing worrying increases in coronavirus cases in its hospitals and the community at a time when it is preparing for a busy winter period, its staff are close to burnout, and it is being expected to recover many of its services that were disrupted by the pandemic.”
The NHS has also been retweeting COVID lockdown recommendations they had initially tweeted in April 2020.
Javid said the government did not think the health system was under “unsustainable” pressure.
Though 64% of its population is fully vaccinated, the U.K. is seeing a new spike in COVID cases. On Tuesday, it recorded 43,324 new cases, or a 34% increase from the average two weeks ago.
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