Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Belgium… European countries have all taken radical measures to limit the pandemic due to the coronavirus. Prohibit large gatherings, close schools, non-essential businesses, filter border entries … The United Kingdom is the only one to resist again, opting for an original but risky public health strategy.
British schoolchildren and students should still be able to get to their school on Monday March 16, and if Downing Street appears to have changed its mind about the rallies (they may eventually be limited from next week), no action will be taken. strict confinement has not been decided. People with mild symptoms of Covid-19 (the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2) should only stay at home for seven days and limit contact with loved ones, authorities said on Thursday (March 12th).
"Herd immunity"
Patrick Vallance is the chief scientific advisor (chief scientific advisor) of the British government, the scientific authority on which Boris Johnson relies to make his decisions. He is assisted by Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer (chief medical officer). Vallance, 59, former head of research and development for the pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), detailed his approach on Thursday evening at Downing Street; he re-toured the media on Friday to emphasize the notion of "collective immunity" (herd immunity), the basis of the national strategy. "It is not possible to prevent everyone from getting the virus. And it is not desirable either because the population must acquire a certain immunity ", he repeated.
The aim of the British authorities is not to"Eliminate" the virus, but rather to limit its spread to avoid a "Second peak" epidemic next winter. Also according to Mr. Vallance, it would take about 60% of the British population to contract the virus so that it develops this collective immunity allowing to avoid future epidemics.
Knowing that the country has just over 66 million inhabitants, it is likely that 40 million British people are infected with the virus. While most of them will develop only a mild form of the disease, a few million (6, 7, 8 million?) Are still at risk of becoming seriously ill. Suffice to say that the National Health Service (NHS), the British public health system, with its 5,000 beds in intensive care, would be quickly overwhelmed.
