• Disrupting Power Since 2015
  • Donate
  • Login
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
  • Login
  • Register
Canary
MEDIA THAT DISRUPTS
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
MANAGE SUBSCRIPTION
SUPPORT
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
Canary
No Result
View All Result

Scientists warn that national lockdown needs to be stricter

The Canary by The Canary
9 January 2021
in News, UK
Reading Time: 3 mins read
170 2
A A
0
Home UK News
319
SHARES
2.5k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

The national lockdown needs to be toughened further to have a similar impact on case numbers as the March shutdown, scientists have said.

A more infectious variant, coupled with the usual winter pressures, requires stricter measures than the ones announced by Boris Johnson for England this month, the experts warned. Similar lockdown measures are in place across Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

Activity

Professor Robert West, a participant in the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Behaviours (SPI-B), said the current restrictions are “still allowing a lot of activity which is spreading the virus”.

The professor of health psychology at University College London said that he and people he has spoken to – including epidemiologists, medical scientists, and virologists – think the rules should be tightened.

The new strain of #COVID19 is spreading fast, with cases rising across the country.

We all need to stay at home.

Read the rules and exemptions:
▶️ https://t.co/21jnNCXkMN pic.twitter.com/3OyOIQPT6t

— Department of Health and Social Care (@DHSCgovuk) January 9, 2021

He told BBC News more children are going to school than in the first lockdown and that schools are “a very important seed of community infection”.

He added:

Because we have the more infectious variant, which is somewhere around 50% more infectious than last time round in March, that means that if we were to achieve the same result as we got in March we would have to have a stricter lockdown, and it’s not stricter.

It’s actually less strict.

Some scientists have estimated the variant could be as much as 70% more transmissible.

Lax

Susan Michie, professor of health psychology at University College London, said the current lockdown was “too lax”. The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) member told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:

It is definitely too lax, because if you think about it and compare ourselves with March, what do we have now? We have the winter season and the virus survives longer in the cold, plus people spend more time indoors and we know aerosol transmission, which happens indoors, is a very big source of transmission for this virus.

And secondly we have this new variant which is 50-70% more infectious. You put those two things together, alongside the NHS being in crisis, we should have a stricter rather than less strict lockdown than we had back in March.

Both she and Prof West are also part of Independent Sage, a group of experts who have argued for tougher measures at various points throughout the pandemic.

Consequences

Prof West said the government is “very much aware of the consequences of different levels of restrictions and obviously what it’s doing is it’s making what it considers to be a political decision”.

Criticising the government, he said it is “completely false” for them to say they have acted at the right time. Asked if the level of infection and number of deaths was potentially avoidable, he told BBC News:

Yes, it was always avoidable. This is the really frustrating thing for all of us who work in public health.

This was always avoidable. When the Government says – I’m going to be quite critical now I’m afraid – but when the Government says ‘oh we’re in the same boat as other countries, we didn’t see this coming’, and so on, and ‘we’re acting at the right time’. That is completely false.

He said that in summer, when cases decreased, experts had advised the government to ramp up its Test and Trace system as well as support for people to isolate – but they failed to do so.

He said:

They didn’t do this. They maintained their hugely expensive but ineffective test, trace and isolate system. They’re not providing the kind of support that’s needed for people to feel that they’re able to do the sorts of things that the Government is now saying ‘well, we’re going to punish you if you don’t do it’. So they’ve got it all the wrong way round.

It’s really much, much more about support.

Share128Tweet80
Previous Post

An ICU nurse says ‘our government failed us’ with NHS staff ‘so burnt out they can’t eat’

Next Post

The military is chuffed that the coronavirus crisis has filled the ranks

Next Post
A soldier aiming a rifle

The military is chuffed that the coronavirus crisis has filled the ranks

Donald Trump

There's widespread jubilation as Twitter permanently suspends Donald Trump’s account

A protest banner hanging outside of an occupied student building

Ministers face calls to support university students with rent rebates for their empty rooms

Julian Assange

Judge's ruling in Assange's extradition case could be seen as a declaration of war on journalists

Juan Guaidó and a flag of the European Union

The EU drops its recognition of Venezuela’s US-backed ‘interim president’, but one European country isn’t budging

Please login to join discussion
gideon's chariots Gaza
Analysis

Gideon’s Chariots: leaked plan shows Israel intentionally pushing Gaza to famine and forced displacement

by Alaa Shamali
20 May 2025
Gideon's Chariots Gaza
Analysis

“عربات جدعون.. مخطط إسرائيلي يقود غزة نحو مجاعة مُمنهجة وتهجير قسري

by Alaa Shamali
20 May 2025
Our friends at Pauzeradio have got the perfect Reggae clothing line for this summer
Lifestyle

Our friends at Pauzeradio have got the perfect Reggae clothing line for this summer

by Steve Topple
20 May 2025
trade unions protest
News

Trade unions urged “to take the lead in forming a new working-class party”

by Ed Sykes
20 May 2025
Keir Starmer looking angry
News

Keir Starmer’s leadership under pressure as 82 NGOs gang up on him

by The Canary
20 May 2025
  • Contact
  • About & FAQ
  • Get our Daily News Email
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy

The Canary
PO Box 71199
LONDON
SE20 9EX

Canary Media Ltd – registered in England. Company registration number 09788095.

For guest posting, contact [email protected]

For other enquiries, contact: [email protected]

The Canary is owned and run by independent journalists and volunteers, NOT offshore billionaires.

You can write for us, or support us by making a regular or one-off donation.

© Canary Media Ltd 2024, all rights reserved | Website by Monster | Hosted by Krystal | Privacy Settings

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion

© 2023 Canary - Worker's co-op.

Before you go, have you seen...?

gideon's chariots Gaza
Analysis
Alaa Shamali

Gideon’s Chariots: leaked plan shows Israel intentionally pushing Gaza to famine and forced displacement

Gideon's Chariots Gaza
Analysis
Alaa Shamali

“عربات جدعون.. مخطط إسرائيلي يقود غزة نحو مجاعة مُمنهجة وتهجير قسري

Lifestyle
Steve Topple

Our friends at Pauzeradio have got the perfect Reggae clothing line for this summer

trade unions protest
News
Ed Sykes

Trade unions urged “to take the lead in forming a new working-class party”

ADVERTISEMENT
Analysis
Nathan Spears

Vote for the Press Photograph of the Year 2024

Image by Burkard Meyendriesch from Pixabay
Feature
Nathan Spears

Why Santiago Ways is the Leading Choice for Walking the Camino de Santiago

Environment
Nathan Spears

EU elections point to growing public desire for new policymaking approach in Brussels