Great Britain: easing despite quarantine

On the weekend before Boris Johnson wants to “restore freedom” to the English, the corona pandemic caught up with his government once again – and fueled doubts about the Prime Minister’s strategy to lift all protective measures this Monday. Health Minister Sajid Javid, although double vaccinated, tested positive for Corona on Saturday. Thanks to the immunization, he only experienced mild symptoms, he said. But its infection illustrates the dangers that emanate from the highly contagious Delta variant.

Quarantine rules also continue to apply – except initially for the prime minister and his finance minister Rishi Sunak. They had contact with Javid but did not want to go into self-isolation for ten days as prescribed. A spokesman announced that instead they would be participating in a pilot project run by the National Health Service (NHS) and taking daily tests. The decision resulted in the expected outcry: Hundreds of thousands of Britons are currently sitting at home because the NHS has imposed quarantine on them.

“Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have been picked up again because they thought the rules we all obey would not apply to them,” said Labor leader Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition. “The Prime Minister’s behavior creates chaos, leads to bad government and has deadly consequences for the British public,” he said.

Even the government expects the number of infections to rise dramatically

A little later, Johnson turned things around. His spokesman said that he will now go into quarantine at his country estate Checkers. And Sunak admitted on twitter sheepishly, “I acknowledge that even the feeling that the rules are not the same for everyone is wrong.” The government is unwaveringly sticking to its easing plans, although the number of infections in the kingdom is currently rising dramatically.

The government justifies this with the high vaccination rate. Now 88 percent of adults in the UK have had a first vaccination. Almost 68 percent have already been vaccinated twice. The connection between new infections and hospital admissions as well as deaths has been weakened considerably, so the argumentation.

The seven-day incidence, i.e. the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within one week, is 360. Even the government does not doubt that it will continue to rise: Health Minister Javid considers up to 100,000 new cases per day to be absolutely realistic . Experts expect at least 1,000 hospital admissions and 100 to 200 corona deaths daily.

But Johnson sees the time has come to lead the country towards normalcy. “If not now, then when?” Is his line. Mild weather and the upcoming summer vacation are better framework conditions than the flu wave expected in autumn. With his advance, Johnson is making England an outsider even in the kingdom: Both Scotland and Wales are loosening up much more cautiously, for example sticking to the mask requirement.