Last night (July 5), Prime Minister Boris Johnson addressed the UK in a live broadcast to announce that England’s current social distancing rules (1 metre plus) and all rules surrounding masks in public would be coming to an end from July 19.
Flanked by Professor Chris Witty, the UK government’s Chief Medical Adviser, Boris said that although cases were expected to surge dramatically to an expected peak of 100,000 cases per day (according to Health Minister Sajid Javid), the country would simply have to “learn to live” with COVID-19 and “exercise judgement”.
This announcement came even as a new variant, the Lambda variant, was detected in the UK. The new strain is thought to have originated in Peru, where it accounts for more than 80% of new cases.
Although 224,776 vaccine doses were administered on Monday, it was reported that 27,334 new cases were reported in the UK on Monday, including nine deaths within 28 days of a positive test. Today alone, a further 28,7773 coronavirus cases were recorded, including 37 related deaths, the highest figures since January 29.
The so-called ‘freedom day’ will only apply to England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland remain in control of their own COVID-19 rules. The Scottish government has already suggested they intend to keep some measures in place, including masks.
The chairman of the British Medical Association, Dr Chaand Nagpaul, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that it “makes no sense” to stop wearing face masks as they “are proven to reduce spread of this infection,” adding, “we can’t understand why we would knowingly want people to become infected”.
Another of the government’s advisers, behavioural psychologist Prof Stephen Reicher, also told the Today programme, “We need very clear messaging and in certain spaces—crowded, badly ventilated spaces—masks are crucial mitigation,” adding ministers needed to provide “support and proportionate mitigations to keep us safe. Along with the vaccine, that’s the way out.”
Crucially, in comments released by Downing Street before the he made his announcement, the PM said he “must stress that the pandemic is not over and that cases will continue to rise over the coming weeks”.
