UK government embarking on dangerous and unethical experiment, says Lancet on July 19 reopening plans
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson
As PM Boris Johnson's government gets set to reopen Britain on July 19 removing most of the coronavirus restrictions, Lancet medical journal has said despite the vaccination, "exponential growth will probably continue until millions more people are infected, leaving hundreds of thousands of people with long-term illness and disability."
The UK government had declared on Monday that it would now take the "next step" in its roadmap on July 19 as it seeks to restart various sectors of the economy while removing most social distancing norms.
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Lancet however warned that "high rates of transmission in schools and in children will lead to significant educational disruption". The journal said the root cause of educational disruption is transmission, not isolation.
The British government had delayed the reopening deadline by up to four weeks as it sought to vaccinate more people. Britain has now fully vaccinated up to two-thirds of the population with nightclubs and other venues set to reopen.
However, Britain has been witnessing an average of over 30,000 fresh coronavirus cases daily with the Delta variant being the dominant strain in England.
Health secretary Sajid Javid had earlier stated that COVID-19 cases could reach 100,000 a day in the coming months.
Lancet said, "preliminary modelling data9 suggest the government's strategy provides fertile ground for the emergence of vaccine-resistant variants while adding,"The link between cases and hospital admissions has not been broken and rising case numbers will inevitably lead to increased hospital admissions, applying further pressure at a time when millions of people are waiting for medical procedures and routine care."
Further, the medical journal said: "Any strategy that tolerates high levels of infection to be both unethical and illogical." Lancet urged the UK government to reconsider its current strategy and take urgent steps to protect the public, including children while adding that the government is "embarking on a dangerous and unethical experiment" as it urged a "pause" on plans to abandon mitigations on July 19.
Lancet said the government should look to reopen only when all adults including adolescents have been vaccinated which will ensure further restrictions and lockdowns wouldn't be required in the autumn.
PM Johnson had however said that it was "as good a time as any" to reopen, although he cautiously added, "I cannot say this powerfully or emphatically enough: this pandemic is not over."
(With inputs from Agencies)