UK opens up.

[Bobby]

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-57882029





19 July:
England Covid restrictions ease as PM urges caution

By Hazel Shearing
BBC News

Published

4 hours ago


Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged caution as most legal restrictions on social contact lift in England.

There are now no limits on how many people can meet or attend events, nightclubs can reopen, and table service will not be necessary in pubs and restaurants.

Face coverings will be recommended in some spaces, but not required by law.

But the PM, chancellor and the health secretary are self-isolating, and there are warnings cases will surge.

Some scientists are predicting that UK infections - currently at about 50,000 a day - could reach 200,000 a day later in the summer.

But with more than 68% of UK adults fully vaccinated modelling suggests hospital admissions, serious illness and deaths from Covid-19 will be at a lower level than in earlier peaks.

How are Covid rules changing on Monday?
How many people can I meet now?
Will 19 July unlocking gamble pay off or backfire?

In a video posted on Twitter on Sunday afternoon, the prime minister said now was the "right moment" to move to the final stage of England's roadmap out of lockdown.

"If we don't do it now we've got to ask ourselves, when will we ever do it?" he asked, adding that the virus would have the "advantage of the cold weather" in autumn and winter.

"But we've got to do it cautiously. We've got to remember that this virus is sadly still out there. Cases are rising, we can see the extreme contagiousness of the Delta variant."

[Bobby]

Boris Johnson is taking another huge gamble by lifting lockdowns in England.

Even he admits it could lead to more deaths from Covid
Luke McGee

Analysis by Luke McGee, CNN

Updated 1019 GMT (1819 HKT) July 18, 2021

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/18/uk/b ... index.html



London (CNN)On Monday, Boris Johnson will place English citizens at the center of an experiment that will give some indication of how well a highly populated country with surging cases of coronavirus copes when lockdown restrictions are lifted.
In Johnson's favor, most of the UK's adult population is now double vaccinated.
However, while those vaccinations have cut the numbers of people suffering from severe illness and succumbing to the disease after more than 128,000 deaths, the number of cases is rising. There is also scant evidence that vaccines prevent the worst effects of long Covid in those who become infected.
Despite Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland -- the other, less populous, nations of the UK -- also being highly vaccinated, it is only England that is taking this leap on Monday.

As of Monday, almost all of the restrictions in England will be lifted. Mandatory mask wearing will be gone, limits on the numbers of people who can mix indoor or outdoor will end, social distancing will be limited to people who have tested positive for the virus and airports, and venues like nightclubs and sports stadiums will be free to open at full capacity.

If someone is pinged by the NHS coronavirus track-and-trace app, they will still need to self-isolate until August 16, at which point double-vaccinated people will be free to carry on as normal.

As cases continue to rise rapidly in England, the number of people told by the app to self-isolate is ballooning. In the week to July 7, 520,000 people received the alert, sparking worries about the program's impact on the economy.

[Black Orchid]

And Boris is in quarantine again.

[Bobby]

And Boris is in quarantine again.

Let's see what happens.