Iran Press/ Europe: In a speech on Sunday evening, Johnson laid out a plan to gradually ease lockdown restrictions, saying people can go back to work if they can’t work from home, followed by a phased reopening of schools from June 1 and the reopening of parts of the hospitality industry from July at the earliest. as Reuters reported.
But scientists have joined criticism of the UK Prime Minister’s strategy for a lack of clarity, with one expert saying the idea that policy should be guided by the scientific community had been “abandoned”.
Richard Horton, the editor of the medical journal the 'Lancet' who has been outspoken in his criticism of the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, said the PM’s speech showed the UK was only halfway through the lockdown.
Stephen Griffin, Associate Professor in the School of Medicine at the University of Leeds, said: “I am deeply concerned by the confusing message from the government this evening.
“It feels as though the ethos that advice from the scientific community should guide policy has been abandoned.”
Professor Trish Greenhalgh, Professor of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, said: “It looks like the PM is trying to implement the ‘have cake and eat it’ maxim he popularised in a previous life.
“On the one hand, he says he’s not lifting the lockdown because he is determined to avoid a second peak. On the other hand, he appears very keen to lift the lockdown because he urgently needs to fix the economy.”
The UK has been hit severely by coronavirus as the statistics indicate with 219,183 confirmed cases and 31,855 deaths.
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