Scientists call on UK govt to abandon ‘dangerous and unethical’ opening plans amid Delta scare

The scientists warned that the exponential rise in Covid-19 cases will “probably continue until millions more people are infected”, given the high transmissibility of the Delta variant.

As daily coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases continue to rise in the UK, scientists have called on the government to abandon its plan to drop most of the pandemic control measures on July 19. More than 4,000 scientists, doctors, nurses and other professionals signed a letter published in The Lancet medical journal, condemning the government’s “dangerous and unethical experiment” when the Delta variant of Sars-Cov-2 is driving the third wave of Covid-19 across the United Kingdom.

Earlier this month, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that all restrictions would be lifted on July 19, branding it as “Freedom Day” (Reuters)

“We believe this decision is dangerous and premature,” they wrote.

On Wednesday, Britain reported over 32,000 new Covid-19 cases, the highest in over five months. But the government has maintained its position to remove most of the restrictions imposed to contain the virus. The scientists noted that more than 17 million people will remain with no protection against Covid-19 even after assuming that 20% of unvaccinated people are protected by the previous infection.

“We believe the government is embarking on a dangerous and unethical experiment, and we call on it to pause plans to abandon mitigations on July 19, 2021,” the scientists said.

They warned that the exponential rise in Covid-19 cases will “probably continue until millions more people are infected”, given the high transmissibility of the Delta variant. Citing preliminary modelling data, the scientists said that the government's strategy provides fertile ground for the emergence of vaccine-resistant variants which would place all at risk, including those already vaccinated.

“Spread of potentially more transmissible escape variants would disproportionately affect the most disadvantaged in our country and other countries with poor access to vaccines,” they added.

Earlier this month, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that all restrictions would be lifted on July 19, branding it as “Freedom Day”. The scientists have suggested that the government should delay complete re-opening until everyone has been offered vaccination and uptake is high.

“Until then, public health measures must include those called for by WHO (universal mask wearing in indoor spaces, even for those vaccinated), the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (ventilation and air filtration), and Independent SAGE (effective border quarantine; test, trace isolate, and support),” they wrote.

The letter was originally signed by a few researchers and now has more than 4,200 online signatures.