Johnson Hints at Adapting to Living with The Virus Amid Pressure to Open Up the Economy

The British government has released a document titled “Covid-19 recovery strategy document” whose details show how the lockdown would be relaxed in phases in the country. It also contains guidelines for people who would be joining work, on how to venture out to public places and also on how to safely meet each other while going about day to day life. Terming the current state of the pandemic as something the country has to be prepared to deal with in “ the long haul” the prime minister still warned that should there be a flare-up in the number of infections after the lockdown is eased, a stricter lockdown would have to be imposed. Terming the document as a plan to rebuild the country in a world with Covid-19, the prime minister further stated that, the path ahead is not going to be a quick return to life what it used to be, nor are there any easy answers to some of the most pressing situations the country is now facing. The plan will adapt as more and more get known about the virus, while scientists toil to find an effective, vaccine to pit it against the virus. The plan he said, should give the people in the country hope so that they can rebuild their country, a hope that they can save lives and a hope that they can safeguard livelihoods. The undertone in the prime minister’s message is unmissable that the virus is here to stay, and that the NHS may not be able to fully put a cap on it, or at least not any time soon. The tone in the statement is also exacerbated by the fact that a vaccine against the virus may not be available for at least one year and that too its efficacy till now remains under doubt.

There are however, many who have cast doubts about the plan and are of the opinion that it leaves a lot to individuals interpretation. The plan though, contains general guidelines to be safe and adhere to hygiene but does not contain specific guidelines to follow so that one can be safe when he ventures out or goes to work. The critics of the plan state that the country will be put to compounded risk if the lockdown is opened without enforceable instructions from the government’s side and there would certainly be a resurgence in the number of infections in the country. The critic’s further state that the plan creates more confusion in the minds of the people than clearing any and that in the current circumstances when the NHS is far from closing in or capping the containment in the country, people’s lives will be in a heightened state of danger because of the plan. Stating that by changing the slogan from “Stay home” to “Stay alert” the prime minister is communicating in a wrong way with the people of this country.

It is worth mentioning here that a number of efforts world over are currently underway to find an effective vaccine which will work against the virus. However, given the nature of vaccine development, it will take at least a year before anything concrete can be achieved in this regard. Secondly, the risk of failure in vaccine development is also very high, and at the current stage of development that most of the vaccine candidates are right now, it is very difficult to say if any of them would really be successful in a short span of time. In the United Kingdom, Oxford University was one of the earliest to have ventured out for the development of a vaccine as soon as virus first made its lethality felt in China. The university which has previous experience of working on SARS and MERS coronaviruses, is best placed to lead such an initiative. As of today the university is in the first phase of trials of the vaccine and expects to complete its trails by September this year and make it available for mass vaccination after that. The assertions of the university, however, are highly optimistic and if successful, would be something that can be called unprecedented in the history of vaccine development. The plan document, however, cannot be based on a highly optimistic scenario and also factor in the risk of failures. It also needs to be kept in mind that the government is saying that the country should be prepared to live with the virus. Currently, there are no medicines for the infection caused by this coronavirus, and most of the patients are being treated with repurposed medicines which have shown the varied level of efficacy against the virus. Despite that, it’s a fact that the mortality rate in the number of infected is very low, leading many to be confident that immunity against the virus can be achieved. However, it is also to be kept in mind that these low mortality rates have been achieved on account of strict lockdown conditions and the healthcare systems working at a war footing. It will not serve the countries interest if this situation changes and turns towards the bad if there is a resurgence of the pandemic.

On the other hand, the sufferings of the people on account of the lockdown have been increasing every day. More than 2 million people have already registered for unemployment benefits with the government and more than a third of the country’s workforce are under the benefit of the furloughing scheme that was announced in the beginning of March. Should the lockdown conditions continue for long the sufferings of the people because it will surpass the people who are suffering from the viral infection. It is such an unclear situation that the government finds itself now and is doing all it can to walk this tight rope to save lives while also protecting livelihoods. The lockdown is not a solution but only provided a temporary breather for the healthcare system of the country to brace itself to deal with the onslaught of the virus. It can now reasonably be expected that the economy should be opened now as the health care system in the country is much better prepared to deal with than it was two months ago. It is also equally important that people participate fully in this effort to defeat the onslaught of the pandemic and the government’s suggestions in this regard will go a long way in ensuring that the people of the country are able to overcome this pandemic impact at the earliest. The plan as the prime minister suggests, will evolve as the understanding about the virus improves. New instructions will very likely follow in coming days which will augment this plan and provide further clarity on its effective implementation.