London - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government
defended its policies for fighting the spread of coronavirus against
growing criticism on Friday of his refusal to close schools and
cancel large events.
Johnson announced new measures on Thursday designed to move Britain
from "containing" to "delaying" the spread of Covid-19.
The measures encourage social distancing and require people with
symptoms of the virus to self-isolate, without any testing unless
they develop severe complications requiring hospital treatment.
"This is a remarkable gamble by Mr Johnson, albeit one that the
government insists is informed by science," The Times said in a
commentary.
"Boris Johnson is gambling that allowing coronavirus to spread now
will protect the economy in the long term. But Britain cannot shield
itself from a global crisis," the newspaper said.
Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt said the decision was
"surprising" not to follow other nations in closing schools,
cancelling all large events and imposing severe restrictions at
borders.
"I think it is surprising and concerning that we're not doing any of
it at all when we have just four weeks before we get to the stage
that Italy is at," Hunt told broadcaster Channel 4.
Responding to Hunt's criticism, Downing Street said the government's
policy was based on scientific advice and designed to "reduce the
peak of the outbreak so the NHS [national health service] will be in
stronger state as the weather improves."
Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance told BBC Radio 4 on Friday
that he expects Covid-19 to become an "annual virus."
Vallance said the government wants to build a "herd immunity" to the
virus in Britain while protecting the most vulnerable people.
"The best way to protect the public from the virus in the long term,
the government has calculated, is for most of the population to get
it, thereby giving it 'herd immunity' to further waves of the
disease," The Times said.
Britain had confirmed about 800 Covid-19 infections through testing
by Friday, including 11 deaths, but Vallance on Thursday estimated
the total infected with the virus at between 5,000 and 10,000.
Amid the growing coronavirus pandemic, organizers of the London
marathon on Friday postponed this year's race from April 26 until
October 4.
The government also postponed local elections scheduled for May until
next year.
Queen Elizabeth II, 93, postponed two royal visits "as a sensible
precaution," Buckingham Palace said.
The queen's son and heir, 71-year-old Prince Charles, also postponed
planned spring visits to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus and Jordan.
Vallance said previous epidemics suggested that taking extreme
measures to curb the spread of similar viruses could allow them to
"bounce back" later.
Because most people experience only mild symptoms, he said, the
government wants to "build up some kind of herd immunity so more
people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission."
Sweden also declined to use the tougher measures introduced by other
countries and, as in Britain, several Swedish regions shifted to
testing only high-risk groups.
The World Health Organization insisted on Friday that continued
tracking, testing and isolating of new cases had proven highly
effective in curbing the virus.