The British authorities confronted criticism Tuesday that it was introducing native lockdowns by stealth after it revealed new pointers for eight areas of England that it says are hotspots for the coronavirus variant first recognized in India.
Lawmakers and native public well being officers have mentioned they’d not been made conscious of the modifications that the Conservative authorities revealed on-line final Friday. In that up to date steerage, it beneficial that individuals inside the eight localities, which incorporates Hounslow in west London, the central metropolis of Leicester and the northwest cities of Blackburn and Bolton, shouldn’t meet up indoors or journey exterior their areas.
Blackburns director of public well being Professor Dominic Harrison mentioned in a tweet that native authority areas affected weren’t consulted with, warned of, notified about, or alerted to the instruction modifications.
Reintroducing native restrictions goes towards the grain of the authorities’s acknowledged technique. It has mentioned it needs to elevate restrictions on a nationwide foundation, with out immediately ruling out native measures to quash outbreaks.
Cabinet minister Teresa Coffey mentioned the up to date steerage shouldn’t be a shock to anybody because it simply formalized on the file the outlines of what Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been saying over the previous couple of weeks when warning about the so-called Indian variant.
The prime minister set out that we have to take additional warning in sure areas concerning the Indian variant,” she said. It is good practice to formally put that guidance on the record affecting those communities.
Restrictions across England and the rest of the U.K. have been lifted over the past few weeks as the number of coronavirus infections has fallen sharply in the wake of a strict lockdown and the rapid rollout of vaccines. Among many changes, the most recent easing has seen pubs and restaurants reopen to customers indoors and the number of people allowed to meet up outdoors increased to 30.
The next easing is planned for June 21 and is intended to involve the lifting of all social restrictions. However, Johnson has warned that it could be pushed back if the new variant spreads widely. A decision on that date is set to be announced on June 14.
Though new cases in the U.K. remain low at around 2,500 a day, against nearly 70,000 at one point in January during the peak of the second wave, they have been inching up slightly in recent weeks.
That’s raised concerns that the so-called Indian variant, which is thought to be more transmissible, is taking off at a time when restrictions have been eased and many younger people have yet to receive a dose of vaccine.
Keir Starmer, the leader of the main opposition Labour Party, accused the government of behaving in an utterly shameful fashion by not informing people in areas affected by the new guidelines.
Local lockdowns are the wrong approach for both public health and local economies,” he mentioned.
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