2/18/2024 0 Comments London lockdown protest todayJohnson has reportedly sought to allay such a move, speaking to his counterparts in France and Germany at the weekend. faces a potential challenge to its rollout if EU leaders, meeting virtually Thursday, decide to block exports of Covid vaccines made in the bloc to countries, like the U.K., that are further ahead in their immunization programs. and U.S.Īs well as slower supplies and production issues, the EU has had to contend with vaccine hesitancy, which is not prevalent in the U.K., and bureaucracy, again a factor not so much of an issue in Britain where the health care service is largely a joined-up and well-connected centralized system.īut this week the U.K. Mainland Europe is seeing the ramifications of its perhaps understandably slower rollout given the fact that the EU chose to order vaccines as a bloc and, crucially, ordered later than the U.K. was the first country in the world to approve and deploy the Pfizer - BioNTech vaccine back in early December, and quickly initiated a national immunization program that has gathered pace. vaccine research was boosted by government funding too. health experts led by the University of Oxford discovered that a low-cost steroid treatment, Dexamethasone, could greatly lower the risk of death when given to the most critically-ill Covid patients.Īn even bigger breakthrough came when the University of Oxford and Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical AstraZeneca, successfully developed and trialed one of a handful of effective vaccines, with the shot's creation even more remarkable given that it can take years to develop vaccines. One bright spot, and a saving grace, has been the U.K.'s highly-regarded scientific community which has been at the forefront of research into the virus, its effects and trials looking at the best way to combat it. In sum, it's been accused of not being prepared for a pandemic, and for mismanaging one when it arrived. ![]() ![]() The government, for its part, has come in for intense criticism that it locked down too late, failed to implement border controls and checks on incoming travelers to the U.K., did not adequately protect health care workers and presided over an inadequate test and trace system still considered sub-par. The reasons behind the higher death toll in the U.K., compared to its continental counterparts in mainland Europe, are manifold but underlying factors include a higher rate of obesity, preexisting health conditions and socio-economic factors. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a statement that "the last 12 months has taken a huge toll on us all, and I offer my sincere condolences to those who have lost loved ones." He added that the country had shown "great spirit shown by our nation over this past year." on Tuesday to reflect on the deaths caused by the virus. has reported over 4.3 million infections, and over 126,000 deaths - the fifth highest number of deaths globally after the U.S., Brazil, Mexico and India.Ī minute's silence will be held in the U.K. has the ignominious position of having recorded the fifth-highest number of coronavirus cases in the world, after the U.S., Brazil, India and Russia, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University. ![]() public is starting look more unlikely, potentially setting the stage for more public discontent as Brits become desperate to return to "normality." Especially as the vaccine rollout continues at pace on Saturday, a record-breaking combined total of 844,285 first and second doses were given to those in line for the shot, up from 711,157 people receiving a vaccine dose on Friday.įast forward a year and the U.K. The government has also signaled it wants to extend its authority to reverse any easing of measures and, thanks to support from the opposition Labour party, is expected to receive approval to extend emergency powers until October, despite a group of lawmakers within the ruling Conservative Party describing the move as "authoritarian."Ĭombine these factors and a summer of freedom for the U.K. Government ministers, and health experts advising them, have made a number of comments suggesting that summer vacations are now "highly unlikely" given the situation in other parts of Europe where coronavirus cases are rising due to new variants of the virus.Īnother health expert - the head of immunization at Public Health England - suggested Sunday that masks and social-distancing measures could be required for several years. ![]() has laid out a roadmap for the lifting of restrictions, with the government aiming to ease most Covid curbs by June 21, there have been smoke signals over the last few days that the government doesn't expect normal life to resume even then. Personal Loans for 670 Credit Score or LowerĪlthough the U.K. Personal Loans for 580 Credit Score or Lower Best Debt Consolidation Loans for Bad Credit
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