British health experts admitted on Wednesday that the new coronavirus is out of control in the UK with the increase in the number of cases and hospital admissions, despite a series of new restrictions on social gatherings applied in the country.
“Things are clearly going in the wrong direction,” UK chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance said at a government press conference, while an additional 7,108 cases and 71 deaths have been reported in the past 24 hours.
As England’s director of health, Chris Whitty, warned that hospitalizations and inpatient care in intensive care are also on the rise, Vallance added: “We don’t have this under control at the moment.”
More than 42,000 people died of covid-19 in the UK, the worst record in Europe, despite a countrywide imposed confinement in late March.
Isolation was eased in June, but authorities have returned in recent weeks to impose restrictions on social gatherings, including banning groups of more than six people and the early closure of bars.
Beside Vallance and Whitty, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that “it is too early to say” whether this will have any effect and asked people to follow the rules.
“If we work together now, we will give ourselves the best possible chance to avoid this outcome and to avoid other measures,” he said.
Contempt for parliament
Despite warnings about the increasing number of cases, many of Johnson’s conservative deputies are increasingly irritated by the limits placed on personal freedom.
More than 50 parliamentarians had already threatened to support a motion in parliament demanding more scrutiny of future rules, accusing ministers of governing “by decree”.
Speaker of the House of Commons Lindsay Hoyle refused to put the amendment to a vote for procedural reasons, saving Johnson from a rebellion.
But he himself launched a blunt attack on Johnson’s “contempt” for parliament.
Hoyle has repeatedly warned ministers for announcing restrictions on the press and for not allowing time for debate before they take effect.
Many lawmakers are still furious after Johnson closed parliament last year at a crucial point in Britain’s turbulent exit from the European Union – a measure later declared illegal by the Supreme Court.
“I now hope that the government will rebuild trust in this House and not treat it with the contempt it has shown,” said the president.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock later offered to consult parliament and “whenever possible” to vote before any new national measures against the coronavirus enter into force.
However, critics note that this does not apply to localized measures, which now affect some 16 million people, many of them in northern England.
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