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UK Freedom Day sees COVID cases rise
Thousands of revelers have piled onto dance floors in England for the first time since March 2020
On what locals have dubbed “Freedom Day”, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged the public to remain cautious after more than 48,000 new cases were confirmed.
Johnson’s decision to lift regulations marks a different decision in the global response to the coronavirus. The PM is eager to see Europe’s largest economies firing again because so many people are now vaccinated marks a new chapter in the global response to the coronavirus.
Police officers stand guard during an anti-lockdown and anti-vaccine protest, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, outside Downing Street, London, Britain, June 14, 2021.
The vast majority of infections are currently among younger age groups who are not yet vaccinated or are only partially protected.
The United Kindom has the seventh-highest death toll in the world, 128,708, and is forecast to soon have more new infections each day than it did at the height of a second wave of the virus earlier this year.
From midnight, laws in England requiring masks to be worn in shops and other indoor settings lapsed, along with capacity limits in bars and restaurants, and rules limiting the number of people who can socialise together.
Johnson sets COVID-19 restrictions for England with devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland making their own policy.
As businesses across England faced a shortage of workers due to the NHS app pinging people and telling them to isolate, supermarkets warned they faced strain.
Scientists have criticised plans to ease almost all Covid-19 restrictions.
