British government criticized for 'premature' deconfinement

Many experts and members of the opposition have deemed the decision of the British government to take the next phase of deconfinement on Monday " premature ", while the United Kingdom is still strongly affected by the epidemic of coronavirus.

Although the country is the second most affected in the world, with more than 38,376 dead Saturday May 30 in hospitals and retirement homes, England is expanding Monday the deconfinement measures, allowing the meetings of six people and the partial reopening schools.

Several members of the scientific committee advising the government on its strategy against the virus considered this new step " risky ", even " dangerous ".

" I think it's risky ... because we still have a large number of cases in the country, " said committee member John Edmunds on Sky News, noting that " England alone has nearly 8,000 new contaminations per day ”.

Another cause for concern: the rate of reproduction of the virus, currently " just below one ". " There is little room for maneuver, and small changes could make it go over, " worried the expert.

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" The Covid-19 is spreading too quickly for us to lift containment in England, " added his colleague Jeremy Farrar, also a member of the committee, on Twitter, for whom the strategy of testing and monitoring contaminated people is not enough. broken in to contain the epidemic.

" The scientists who spoke were quite right to recommend caution, we are at a risky time ," Culture Minister Oliver Dowden reacted at a press conference, noting, however, that the government was supporting on a committee of " more than 50 scientists, all of whom have different perspectives ".

According to the deputy head of health services in England, Johnathan Van-Tam, " the committee [...] was very clear: if the public follows the instructions well and with an effective test and tracing system ", the deconfinement should be fine. " It is not an absolute guarantee, but the mark of a high level of confidence ," he added.

In total, five experts from the committee publicly expressed their fears regarding the lifting of the containment introduced on March 23, quickly joined by members of the Labor opposition. " Lifting the confinement is premature ", judged the mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham, while that of London, Sadiq Khan, declared himself " deeply concerned " by a deconfinement " too fast ".

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