England's 'freedom day' marred by soaring cases and isolation chaos
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[July 19, 2021]
By William James
LONDON (Reuters) -Prime Minister Boris
Johnson's 'freedom day' ending over a year of COVID-19 lockdown
restrictions in England was marred on Monday by surging infections,
warnings of supermarket shortages and his own forced self-isolation.
Johnson's bet that he can get one of Europe's largest economies firing
again because so many people are now vaccinated marks a new chapter in
the global response to the coronavirus.
If the vaccines prove effective in reducing severe illness and deaths
even while infections reach record levels, Johnson's decision could
offer a path out of the worst public health crisis in decades. If not,
more lockdowns could loom.
But Johnson's big day was marred by "pingdemic chaos" as a National
Health Service app ordered hundreds of thousands of people to
self-isolate - prompting warnings supermarket shelves could soon be
emptied.
"If we don’t do it now we’ve got to ask ourselves, when will we ever do
it?" Johnson said just hours after he was forced to abandon a plan to
dodge the 10-day quarantine requirement for himself and finance minister
Rishi Sunak.
"This is the right moment but we’ve got to do it cautiously. We’ve got
to remember that this virus is sadly still out there."
Britain has the seventh highest death toll in the world, 128,708, and is
forecast to soon have more new infections each day than it did at the
height of a second wave of the virus earlier this year. On Sunday there
were 48,161 new cases.
But, outstripping European peers, 87% of Britain's adult population has
had one vaccination dose, and more than 68% have had the two doses which
provide fuller protection. Daily deaths, currently at around 40 per day,
are just a fraction of a peak of above 1,800 seen in January.
The FTSE 100 share index fell to a two-month low on Monday on concerns
that economic recovery could be in danger. UK-listed shares of cruise
operator Carnival Plc, and airlines easyJet and British Airways-owner
IAG fell between 4% and 6.7%. The pound fell to a three-month low.
'FREEDOM DAY'?
From midnight, laws in England requiring masks to be worn in shops and
other indoor settings lapsed, along with capacity limits in bars and
restaurants, and rules limiting the number of people who can socialise
together.
Johnson sets COVID-19 restrictions for England, with devolved
administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland making their own
policy.
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A Yeoman Warder, Barney Chandler leads the first "Beefeater" tour of
the Tower of London in 16 months, at the Tower of London, Britain,
July 19, 2021. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls
As businesses across England faced a shortage of
workers due to the NHS app pinging people and telling them to
isolate, supermarkets warned they faced strain.
"It’s a major issue across every industry at the moment," Marks &
Spencer CEO Steve Rowe said. "Our COVID cases are roughly doubling
every week and the pinging level is about three to one of COVID
cases, so we’re seeing that growing exponentially."
"If there’s shortages we’ll have to manage it by changing hours of
stores, reducing hours. Where the industry will see the pain is in
the supply chain, because logistics runs tight anyway to be
efficient."
British society appears split on the restrictions: some want tough
rules to continue as they fear the virus will keep killing people
and overwhelm hospitals, but others have chafed at the most onerous
restrictions in peacetime history.
Johnson faced an outcry on Sunday when he and finance minister Sunak
tried to dodge quarantine with a special scheme for senior ministers
and civil servants. He will now isolate at his country residence at
Chequers after health minister Sajid Javid tested positive.
As the dawn rose over London, clubbers danced through the night at
one of the first rule-free live music events since the pandemic
began last year.
"I have not been allowed to dance for like what seems like forever,"
said Georgia Pike, 31, at the Oval Space in Hackney, east London. "I
want to dance, I want to hear live music, I want the vibe of being
at a gig, of being around other people."
(Writing by William James and Guy FaulconbridgeEditing by Frances
Kerry and Giles Elgood)
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