The UK’s Second Lockdown

‘The UK Parliament has today voted in favour of a four-week lockdown in England following a surge in Covid-19 cases and related deaths following new forecasts made by the government’s scientific advisors. According to the SAGE group of scientists, the projected death level in the UK is now above the reasonable worst case scenario, and the UK could reach as many as four-thousand deaths per day if no action is taken by the government. The official announcement for these new measures came after the plans were leaked to the press by someone in former Prime Minister’s Theresa May’s team. According to some sources, it was leaked to ensure Boris Johnson did actually go through with the decision and announce it to the press. Clearly there is division in the Conservative party surrounding this decision, with Johnson previously stating that a lockdown is the last thing his government thinks the UK needs a few weeks ago. There was opposition to the vote from some Tory backbenchers, but the vote was passed anyway, due to the support Johnson received from Labour. 

A deadly delay

The Leader of the Opposition Sir Keir Starmer had called on the government to lock down the country in late October, when the government could have taken advantage of the half term school holidays to lockdown with minimal cost to education. This suggestion was laughed off by the Conservatives and Starmer was ridiculed by a few Tory frontbenchers. This conduct has not worked in the government’s favour however, as this U-turn in policy towards what Sir Keir suggested has caused division within the party and is another example of the Johnson Government’s erratic and sometimes misguided handling of this pandemic. Starmer has said he will support the government during this lockdown, and is also willing to cooperate with the government on Covid-19 policy, but has said that the government’s test and trace system needs to be fixed if information on the pandemic is to be trusted. Both sides support schools staying open, and both support extending the lockdown past the current end date of December 2nd if the transmission rate has not decreased enough. The government’s extension of the furlough scheme is being extended to cover this lockdown, which is welcome news for retail and hospitality workers, but has raised suspicions from citizens of northern cities like Manchester, which was denied extra Covid-19 relief funds when their city was placed into regional lockdown. The government has said that extra funds will be available to the other countries of the Union should they need to lockdown as well. Wales is in the final days of a two-week “firebreak” lockdown, and Scotland has converted to a five-leveled tier system, similar to England before the lockdown announcement. There is frustration from the government’s scientific advisors and the opposition, who both said a lockdown should have come at least two weeks sooner. They also question the effectiveness of the lockdown, and predict that the lockdown is unlikely to be as effective as the government is saying. In statements and interviews since the announcement, Conservative Cabinet ministers have attempted to distance themselves from the fact the Keir Starmer was right and the government was wrong. 

Liverpool leads the way

Liverpool is to be the first city in the UK to be unilaterally tested for Covid-19. Everyone living within the city limits will be offered a Coronavirus test, and the government is hoping that it will shed some new light on how the virus spreads. Liverpool has had some of the highest infection rates in the country, and with two-thirds of the cases in the UK estimated to be asymptomatic, this citywide test is expected to give a better understanding of the virus to the government’s advisors. If the results show that the majority of cases are indeed asymptomatic, and as such a great number of cases aren’t even reported, it will revolutionise how the country will try to control the virus. The military is to be used to deliver and distribute the tests to the people of Liverpool. Hospitals in the region, including in the greater Merseyside area and parts of Cheshire, are now reaching or have reached their maximum capacity, and some patients are being transferred to other hospitals to free up some space. 

France endures more suffering at the hands of terrorists

As well as all that, France has suffered two terrorist attacks this week, one at a church in Nice where three churchgoers were shot, and a French teacher was beheaded after showing his class cartoons of the prophet Muhammad in a lesson about free speech. This has led to some controversial comments by French President Macron about Islam. Austria has also undergone its own tragedy recently, when a young macedonian muslim with ties to ISIS shot and killed four Austrians in a bar in Vienna. The man had tried to go to Syria for extremist reasons, and had attempted to buy ammunition from neighboring Slovakia in the past, and was on an EU terrorist watchlist. Whether the attack was coordinated by ISIS or was an isolated incident by a singularly motivated person is as yet unknown.