UK defends coronavirus plan as ‘wartime’ measures loom

Agence France-Presse

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

UK defends coronavirus plan as ‘wartime’ measures loom

AFP

Critics accuse the government of not acting quickly enough to contain the spread of the virus

LONDON, United Kingdom – Britain on Sunday, March 15 ,said its criticized plan to deal with coronavirus was designed to “protect life” in a “sustainable” manner as it prepared to unveil “wartime-style” measures to tackle the outbreak.

The government has yet to implement the kind of tough measures that continental Europe has adopted, but health minister Matt Hancock said Sunday it would announce emergency powers on Tuesday, which are expected to include a ban on mass gatherings.

“We are absolutely ready to do that,” he told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge.

“We’ll take the right action at the right time,” he said, adding “the time is coming.”

Critics have accused the government of not acting quickly enough to contain the spread, but the government has said that it is taking the advice of experts, including behavioural scientists, on when to deploy the measures.

“The goal here is to protect life, the measures have to be sustainable,” he later told the BBC. “We will stop at nothing to fight this virus.”

Other measures being considered include instructing people over 70 to stay in strict isolation at home or in care homes for 4 months, a Whitehall source told ITV News.

“That is in the action plan yes, there will be more details when it is the right time to do so,” he told Sky, adding that it would be within the “coming weeks.”

The “wartime-style” effort could see the requisitioning of hotels and private hospitals as emergency treatment centres as well as the closure of pubs, bars and restaurants, said the ITV report.

Chief medical officer Chris Whitty and chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance are waiting for the “optimal time” to deploy the “painful” measures, it added, believing that fatigue will set in and that old people could die of neglect if they move too early.

“We are going to need a massive community response,” Hancock told Marr. “Every single person in this country is going to be affected.”

He also promised that the government would publish its models “in the next couple of days” following demands from the scientific community to see the underlying data.

There has also been some confusion about Vallance’s suggestion on Thursday that they wanted enough people to catch the virus to build up “herd immunity.”

Hancock told Sky that herd immunity was “not our goal” and that “our policy is to protect lives.”

Britain’s death toll from the disease nearly doubled on Saturday, as health officials announced 10 more people had died, bringing the total number of fatalities to 21.

Official figures showed the country has 1,140 confirmed cases – an increase of 342 from the day before. – Rappler.com

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!