It’s too simplistic to say that Britain’s case numbers are entirely due to the government’s approach in lifting lockdown restrictions
A British government public health information sign is seen on bus shelter amid the spread of COVID-19) in London on January 27 2021. REUTERS/Toby Melville
Though some of the disparity in infection rates between Britain and other countries can be attributed to higher levels of testing , testing alone doesn’t explain the gap. Rates of hospitalisation and even death are several times higher in the UK than in comparable European countries. And yet it’s too simplistic to say that Britain’s case numbers are entirely due to the government’s approach in lifting lockdown restrictions. Other countries with lax policies didn’t experience such a spike in cases. Scotland kept a mask mandate in many indoor settings and still has been struggling with a higher infection rate than England. This doesn’t mean masks don’t help, but it suggests they aren’t sufficient.
Finally, there is also the new Delta variant subtype, known as AY.4.2., which began showing up around July and now accounts for about 8% of genomically sequenced cases in the UK. Scott Gottlieb, head of the US Food and Drug Administration, tweeted about the need for “urgent research” into the subtype, which is not common in the US at present and is considered about 10% more transmissible than Delta.
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