It is two months since such high infection rates were last recorded in the UK as on Friday.
Over 4,000 cases of infection were registered, and the R number is now over 1, writes Independent. This means that the infection is increasing.
The sharp increase in the number of new cases has led to pressure on the British government to wait to reopen further, the newspaper writes.
On 21 June, the plan is to introduce the last step in the reopening plan, step 4. This includes removing all measures that involve social contact, opening nightclubs and increasing the number of participants in public events.
Turns alarm
A number of experts sound the alarm about Johnson’s schedule.
Professor Timothy Gowers at the University of Cambridge says The Guardian that it “can have consequences very, very quickly” if the government incorrectly assesses risk factors such as new virus variants.
– The disadvantage of being a little more careful is quite a bit less than the disadvantage if it goes wrong, says Gowers.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson believes it is too early to say at this stage what they should and should not do.
But the increase in the Indian virus variant in the UK means that “we may have to wait” to remove further measures, Johnson said to The Guardian Thursday. But he also said that “the data at the moment” does not indicate that.
Up to a third of all cases detected in the UK now are infected with the Indian virus variant. The variant has been linked to an increase in cases in various places around the country.
However, it is unclear to the authorities at the moment whether the increase in the number of infected is due to the fact that the activity in the population is high, or whether it is because the Indian variant infects more, writes The Guardian.
Professor: Better off if we wait
Professor Christina Pagel at London Global University believes that one should wait to introduce step 4 in the reopening plan until more people have been fully vaccinated.
“If we can postpone travel to other countries and stage 4 until a much larger proportion of the population has been vaccinated with two doses, we are much, much better off,” she told the Independent.
– We are only two months away from it, it is not long to wait. What I do not want is that new measures must be introduced, she says.
Medicine professor Paul Hunter at the University of East Anglia says that if you have to introduce new measures after reopening, the measures will be introduced locally or regionally.
Such a tactic is used in Norway.
The number of hospital admissions has also increased in the UK in the last week. The increase is 25 percent, according to the Independent. According to experts that the newspaper has spoken to, the decisive factor for whether to open society further on 21 June will be whether the vaccines work.
– The vaccine definitely seems to work. Nearly as many people are infected now, says doctor Helen Wall, responsible for the vaccination program in Bolton, England.
More than half of the adult population in the UK has received at least one vaccine dose. In Norway, almost 30 percent have received the first dose.
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