‘Incredibly disturbing’: BMA chair slams Boris Johnson’s decision to ease Covid restrictions
The chair of the British Medical Assocation, Dr. Chaand Nagpaul has slammed Prime minister Boris Johnson’s decision to ease Covid-related restrictions on 19 July.
”There is a clear disconnect with the actions the Government are planning to take and the data and views of the scientific community and medical profession,” Dr. Nagpaul said.
Yesterday, Boris Johnson announced most of the Covid-related rules – including face mask wearing and social distancing – will be abolished on 19 July, which has been dubbed ‘Freedom Day’. Johnson singled out the success of the vaccine rollout as the main reason to ease restrictions.
However, Dr. Nagpaul said “the NHS is already under immense pressure trying to cope with an unprecedented backlog of care. Even modest rises in patients being admitted to hospital will undermine our ability to treat the record 5 million patients waiting for treatment.”
‘Underestimating the virus’
Others have also come out against the Prime Minister’s decision. Dr. Chris Papadopoulos of the University of Bedfordshire said today that ”the UK government is once again clearly underestimating this virus.”
“Ending restrictions also entirely ignores the risks associated with long Covid and the real possibility that there may be additional, yet unknown health impacts associated with the Delta variant,” he said.
Dr. Papadopoulous suggested that restrictions should only be lifted when ”85 per cent of the population has been vaccinated with two shots of any of the approved vaccines.”