Learn to live with the virus – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Image Courtesy – The Nation
Lockdown is going to be lifted in Britain from July 19, 2021. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, “Learn to live with the virus”. In other words, he wanted to say that even if the restrictions are lifted, every individual should be careful.
Boris Johnson wanted all restrictions in Britain to be relaxed from June 21. But, the Delta variant of COVID-19 spread in the country before that. The number of victims increased exponentially. The government was forced to maintain the strictures for a few more days.
The number of deaths there is 1 lakh 28 thousand till date. A total of three lockdowns had to be imposed in Britain. Many people thought that there would be some restrictions even if lockdown was lifted in the coming days. It was rumored that the nightclubs would not open. The number of customers in bars would also be controlled. Large-scale events would not be allowed.
The Prime Minister’s Office has said that if the restrictions were relaxed, the infection would increase. But hopefully, a much smaller number of victims were being hospitalized. The mortality rate has also come down a lot. Vaccination was responsible for that.
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Britain was one of the first countries to start vaccination. Vaccination began there last December. 64% of the country’s adults have been vaccinated so far. Johnson said in a statement, “We are trying to give people back their freedom.”
A few days ago, there has been a great deal of controversy in Britain over wearing a mask. The government made statements that in order to escape from the grasp of Coronavirus, one has to rely on ‘common sense’, and also stated that wearing a mask in public was no longer mandatory. Many experts have sharply criticized the government for easing restrictions on wearing masks.
Stephen David Reicher, Professor of Social Psychology at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, said – “There is nothing personal about the epidemic. You always have to think about the group.”
Nearly 30,000 people in Britain get infected with coronavirus daily. The British Medical Association pleaded last weekend that the government should not lift the ban now.
Shalini Gupta is a teacher at New Delhi with multifarious talents. She has a deep passion for reading, writing, drawing, sketching etc. simultaneously with her teaching job. She is currently writing for Bigumbrella also.
