Coronavirus UK: Why does Boris Johnson avoid strict measures?

The British government announced today that it has moved to the second phase of its coronavirus action plan – attempts to postpone the worst epidemic until spring or summer.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson briefed his Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Whitty, and Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, saying that anyone with a new cough should isolate themselves for a week at home. They also urged the elderly not to go on cruises and schools not to go abroad.

Some expected more drastic measures – banned at large gatherings, school closings and the closing of pubs and restaurants – as has been taken by other countries such as Ireland, France and Italy.

Here, MailOnline explains why the government announced the steps they have taken and what has prevented them from committing to those who did not:

Anyone who coughs should stay at home

Anyone who gets a new cough should be at home for at least a week, Mr. Johnson announced today.

The advice applies to people who have a cough or fever, regardless of whether they have traveled abroad or not.

Official counseling now says, “If you have symptoms of coronavirus infection (COVID-19), however mild, stay at home and do not leave your home for 7 days from the time your symptoms started.”

England’s Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Whitty, said that people who develop only mild symptoms can spread the virus to many others because the coronavirus is most contagious the first few days after someone first feels unwell before they realize they can have it.

Dr. Alexander Edwards from the University of Reading said, “This looks like a good strategy from the UK health authorities.”

But Professor Graham Cooke of Imperial College London said on Monday that this could be too wide a range and many people with colds will eventually be out of work.

“The decision about implementing delay measures is a delicate balance of advantages and disadvantages,” he said.

“We are still at a time of year when fever and cough are more often due to other benign viruses.

‘For example, [colds and flu] keep circulating. Introducing self-isolation measures without a proven diagnosis at this time is more likely to cause unnecessary discomfort (and potential damage) than to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2. ‘

The same counseling also said that anyone with symptoms should do that try to keep two meters away from people in their own home.

People will soon be asked to stay at home if someone is ill

Full households will soon be asked to stay at least a week if someone they live with becomes sick with a cough or fever.

This is not currently the advice, but Mr. Johnson said people should expect it to be announced in the coming days or weeks.

The idea behind the rule is that people whose family members get the disease are likely to get it before anyone realizes that coronavirus is the cause.

Professor Jonathan Ball of the University of Nottingham said last week that this was not necessary unless the person felt sick himself.

He said, “Those who are in self-isolation should try to minimize interactions with members of the household during the isolation period and follow the self-isolation advice on the government website.

It is not necessary to isolate an entire family, because an uninfected person poses no risk.

“If anyone else in the family develops symptoms, they too should isolate themselves immediately.”

And it is not self-evident that coronavirus would infect an entire household if one resident caught it, another added, as long as people are sensible.

Professor Tom Solomon, from the University of Liverpool, added: ‘While there is clearly an increased risk of contact with households of isolated patients at home, it is not inevitable that they will become infected.

“As far as possible, the person infected with the coronavirus should keep away from other family members.”

Over 70s are not allowed to go on cruise ships

The government has advised the elderly not to go on cruise ships.

The dangers of cruises were demonstrated by the disastrous quarantine attempt on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, in which approximately 700 people contracted the corona virus while moored off the coast of Yokohama, Japan.

As the situation on the ship worsened, scientists admitted that cruise ships are known to be environments at risk of disease hatching.

Professor John Oxford of Queen Mary University in London said: “The ships are invariably overcrowded and hygiene can drop with so many passengers.

“I also suspect the passengers [had] have not been properly quarantined because they have passed an incubation period for viruses and infections are still occurring.

“There must be a great temptation to communicate with other passengers practicing on the deck, etc.”

Others pointed out that people take part in cruises from all over the world, creating a melting pot of illness on board.

Dr. Simon Clarke, from the University of Reading, said, “Having a large number of people in relatively narrow boundaries is a recipe for transmission.”

He added, “Unfortunately, the more older demographic groups on a typical liner are more prone to anything that could pose a serious health challenge.”

International school trips must be canceled

Schools shouldn’t take their students on a trip abroad, Johnson said.

Ski trips to Italy during the half of February are said to be the cause of the spiraling epidemic in the UK.

While hundreds or even thousands of children went to the Alps for a week, the Italian coronavirus crisis exploded, infecting thousands of people, both residents and vacationers.

Many cases in the UK have been linked to travelers returning from Italy.

The country is now off-limits to tourists, but similar situations arise in other popular school trip destinations such as France and Germany.

There is no particular risk to children – in fact, they are believed to be at an extremely low risk of becoming seriously ill with the coronavirus and an almost nonexistent risk of death – but they can act as carriers and carry the virus to the British soil and infects the adults around them. Teachers and other supervisors also pose a risk.

NHS stops testing all suspected coronavirus patients

The NHS will change its approach to coronavirus testing, formally examining only those in hospitals, Professor Whitty said.

“It is no longer necessary for us to identify each case and we are moving from testing mainly at home, outpatient and walk-in centers to a situation where people who stay at home do not need to be tested,” he said.

“We will run all testing capacity to identify those in hospitals with symptoms so that we can pick them up early, make sure we treat them well, and make sure they don’t transmit the virus to other people in hospitals.

“So there will be a change in the hospital and other test systems.”

Professor Whitty said that from now on, people will be tested ‘regardless of their travel history’ if they show severe symptoms.

So what measures has Mr. Johnson not introduced?

Sports events are not prohibited …

Johnson said that number 10 is still thinking about whether or not to ban sporting events in the UK, such as Premier League football matches.

Italy – the center of Europe’s escalating crisis – has already banned all matches until April, and Spain has suspended the top football league today.

The major US soccer, basketball, and hockey leagues (MLS, NBA, and NHL) have also all been suspended to deal with the crisis.

In other sports, England plans to cancel its cricket tour of Sri Lanka and the Australian Grand Prix of the season opened.

But Mr. Johnson said, “The scientific advice is this [cancelling sports events] has little influence on the distribution, but does tax other government services. ‘

Thousands of people cram in stadiums and are packed together for hours, increasing the risk of the virus spreading among those present.

British health officials say that anyone who comes within two meters of an infected patient is at risk, with the virus known to be transmitted through the air and on surfaces.

But Sir Patrick Vallance, number 10’s chief scientific advisor, added, “On average, one person infects two or three others.”

Therefore, he added, there is a “low chance ‘that the virus will spread in a stadium and that the risk is greater in smaller environments.

… Nor are there any other mass gatherings

Scotland’s Prime Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said that Scotland will start chasing events with more than 500 people from Monday.

However, Mr. Johnson admitted that officials are still considering banning large gatherings such as theater performances, sporting events, and concerts.

Experts say running it too early carries the risk of people becoming “crisis fatigued,” meaning they get tired of staying at home and ignoring advice when the epidemic comes at the most dangerous point.

Experts do not entirely agree with the decision to postpone this kind of ban, and some have insisted that it be done now.

Professor Devi Sridhar, of the University of Edinburgh, said: ‘Now is the time for the UK government to ban large gatherings, ask people to stop nonessential travel, recommend employers to go home and response. “

And Professor Martin Hibberd, from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, added: ‘The answer in the UK was clearly not sufficient as numbers continue to rise and we risk following the trajectory of other European countries.

“If the goal is simply to postpone the peak of the outbreak to summer, then perhaps the British response is enough.

“However, WHO is challenging the world to do more, and we know from China that aggressive restriction policies can work to reduce the numbers.”

Schools do not close

Japan dramatically ordered the closure of all schools in the country for a month to stop the spread of the virus.

Ireland, Denmark, Norway and Lithuania have also announced that they will close all schools and colleges to fight the infection.

But Mr. Johnson again declined to follow suit – despite more than 350,000 people signing a petition calling on the government to take action.

Concerned parents are calling on the Prime Minister to send students home and universities and schools are already preparing ‘home learning packages’.

Manchester Metropolitan University and the London School of Economics announced today that personal education is coming to an end.

But Mr. Johnson said schools are not going to be closed at this point because the move could make things worse.

He said, “We’re not, don’t repeat, we’re closing schools now. The scientific advice is that this can do more harm than good right now. ‘

Keith Neal, an infectious disease expert at the University of Nottingham, warned that closing schools might be a bad idea.

He said it could lead to more grandparents – the group of patients most vulnerable to the coronavirus – taking care of children.

No travel ban

Banning travel would have had a “minimal” effect in slowing the spread of the coronavirus and it is too late to do so now, Sir Patrick said.

It comes after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 30-day ban on all travel to America from continental Europe.

Sir Patrick said that early in the plan it was considered to stop flights from China, but the conclusion was that the effect would not have made a big difference.

He said the evidence had confirmed that, adding that it is now “too late” to implement such a measure.

He said, “The way the world works, you can’t stop that unless everyone decides to do it all at once and it’s certainly too late to try it now.”

Trump’s decision to limit travel has been criticized by scientists, security analysts and the European Union.

In a joint statement on the travel ban, EU Presidents Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen said they “disapproved” of the decision.

They said, “The coronavirus is a global crisis, not limited to any continent, and it requires cooperation rather than unilateral action.

“The European Union disapproves that the American decision to impose a travel ban was taken unilaterally and without consultation.”

Professor Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, said, “At best, travel bans can only delay the spread of an epidemic for a short time.”

He added that the US ban will “do little or nothing to reduce the burden of infection within America” ​​- where the infection is spreading quickly.

Employees do not have to work from home

Many commentators expected the Prime Minister to officially call on all workers in the UK to work from home whenever possible.

Public Health England has already asked companies to “consider the possibility of working from home.”

And in a blog post about social distance strategies, it was said to work with companies to “encourage them to look at options to minimize contact.”

Hundreds of companies, including Google and Lloyds, have already recommended working from home because of the fears of the corona virus.

However, Mr. Johnson did not comment on the possible measure and offered little clarity to British people concerned about catching the virus on their commute.

It means the official line remains, according to PHE, “You should just keep working unless your employer has told you otherwise.”

Football matches are still shown in pubs

The improved government response to the coronavirus outbreak is expected to stop pubs from showing football matches.

According to The Times, sources said it was possible that games would not be shown in pubs to avoid people’s congestion.

And it was also suggested that Premier League games would not be shown live on Saturday in the prime-time 3:00 PM.

But number 10 made no mention of the measure, meaning thousands of sports fans still gather in crowded pubs and bars to watch important matches.

Pubs and restaurants do not close

The Italian government has taken the unprecedented step of closing all its restaurants and bars to halt the ever-growing crisis.

Dr. World Health Organization’s David Nabarro said that all kinds of meetings – not just ‘big events’ – can be canceled in the UK.

He said smaller events such as “gatherings in community halls, in religious spaces and services” may be discontinued, as well as pubs.

In pubs, demand has already fallen as a result of the coronavirus crisis in the UK, with 40 percent visitor numbers in some cities.

Before the closings, the Italian authorities demanded that bars, restaurants and cafes shorten their opening hours and allow customers to be kept far apart.

Bars were only allowed to be open between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. and only if a distance of at least 1 meter could be maintained between each customer.

The elderly are not yet ‘enveloped’ in care homes

Hundreds of thousands of old people – most at risk of dying from contracting the coronavirus – can be locked up in care homes where they live.

The “cocoon” strategy was confirmed by government officials and would call on an army of volunteers to help care for the vulnerable population.

Officials said the idea was that “by the time they come out of their cocooning, the herd’s immunity will be reached in the rest of the population.”

Herd immunity is when so many people in a population have already had a virus – and thus become immune – that the disease has stopped spreading because there are not enough potential victims to infect and continue.

The plan will continue as the coronavirus outbreak worsens, as Number predicts it will in the coming weeks.

Older Britons will not yet be told to stay at home

US officials issued guidelines last week urging older people to stay at home as much as possible.

But the UK has not yet introduced this measure, despite plans to ask retirees to cut back on social outings.

Professor Whitty warned advice will be provided for the elderly and vulnerable people to isolate themselves from social gatherings.

He said plans to protect Britain’s most vulnerable people – those who are older and those with serious health problems – were the “next phase.”

But he added that the government does not consider it appropriate to introduce the measures provisionally “because it is too early in the course of the epidemic.”

Professor Whitty warned that the move would have “major practical implications for them” and could lead to loneliness.

He added, “While we need to go to that stage, we don’t think it’s the right time during the pandemic to do that. But that point will come. ‘