Boris Johnson stages a mea culpa for the 100m …

From London

The Prime Minister Boris Johnson reiterated in parliament that he deeply feels the death of 100,000 people since the start of the coronavirus, according to the figure released Tuesday by Public Health England (PHE). In the midst of a shower of criticism and questioning of the conservative health policy, Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer, who was discussing at a distance, noted that the government had made monumental mistakes. “The government was slow to enact the lockdown in March, secure protective gear for essential workers, protect nursing homes, in the tracing and tracing program, in the second confinamietno, in the change of the rules for Christmas and in the third confinamietno. Plus, I’m afraid he hasn’t learned his lesson, ”Starmer said.

The 100,000 deaths announced by the PHE on Tuesday are a symbolic mark both of the virulence of the pandemic and of the government’s failures. And the number is insufficient. According to the National Statistics Organization (ONS), which uses another methodology (cause of death in death certificates), this figure was reached on January 7, that is to say that today it would be necessary add at least 10,000 deaths.

Beyond this grim tally and the political debate, the verdict of scientists and epidemiologists is overwhelming. “In January of last year, it would have been unimaginable to think that a rich country with a universal health system would have one of the highest death rates in the world,” summed up Richard Murray, CEO of the King’s Fund, a think tank that advises the National Health Service (NHS).

The UK is the European country with the most deaths in Europe, the fifth in the world. “The 100,000 deaths are not just another statistic, they are a tragic mark that makes us all wonder what happened. The Prime Minister must have thought about it. Why does the UK have the highest death toll in Europe? “Said Starmer in his remote intervention. In a House of Commons with only a handful of MPs, the prime minister responded in person. “I take responsibility. YesThe time will come to draw lessons and reflect on them. But that time is not now, ”Johnson said.

How did it happen?

At the end of January 2020, the first case of coronavirus was recorded in the United Kingdom. At that time, Wuhan was in a lockdown that the West deemed draconian, Asia had been placed in a state of emergency, the World Health Organization had classified the situation as a public health emergency of international concern, and the covid was beginning to penetrate Europe. Despite these clear signals, the British government did not impose any border controls. Completely the opposite. In a speech in early February, Johnson played down the virus, saying that faced with those calling for restrictions, the UK would still be “a stronghold of the free market”.

In the first half of March, with Italy and Spain overwhelmed at hospital level and under different types of lockdown, Johnson joked about the coronavirus, attended massive sporting events and played a Champions League match against Atlético de Madrid with supporters in Liverpool. In mid-March and faced with grim projections from epidemiologists if this “laissez-faire” continued, the Prime Minister abruptly changed his “speech”, said without anesthesia that the population would have to get used to the death of “thousands of their loved ones” and, after a week of hesitation, ordered the confinement.

In early May, despite having been in intensive care himself in April, Johnson began to rush the opening of detention with an extremely optimistic speech. In June, three quarters of economic activity was functioning and the Prime Minister promised that at Christmas “we would all be in our arms”. In July, the opening of nightclubs was analyzed and ruled out, but the government boosted consumption in restaurants and pubs with subsidies, two of the activities most affected. In September, the floodgates of the second wave ended with the reopening of face-to-face classes at all levels: primary, secondary and university.

On September 23, government advisory scientists recommended further containment in light of the alarming increase in cases. The government did nothing until the end of October, when the situation became untenable. The second nationwide lockdown began on November 2 and lasted until December 2. Before Christmas, the rules for interaction were relaxed again until the appearance of the British strain and the growing number of infections became official.

The third lockdown began in early January and will not be reassessed until mid-February. There are signs that the number of infections is declining (just over 20,000 yesterday), but the number of deaths continues to break records (over 1,600). The vaccination program can be counted among the government’s successes: around seven million vaccinated in seven weeks (13% of the population, Johnson said) and a projection of 30 million, or nearly half of the population, of here March.

The testing and surveillance program, by contrast, is one of the most resounding failures, made worse by the conservatives’ boastful and chauvinistic attitude. In April the government promised it would have a test program that would be “a batsman of the world”, by September the system had not started and was covered by another pledge, “Operation Moonshot”, which provided for testing the entire population in December at an astonishing cost. Today, there is neither a “world beater” nor a moon-shooting operation: the system has improved but is far from meeting the needs of the kingdom.

Even with all these blunders, the responsibility lies with the Prime Minister.

Austerity

The coronavirus appeared out of nowhere: The National Health Service (NHS) crisis did not. By January 2020, after a decade of Conservative austerity, 17,000 hospital beds had been lost since the Tories’ rise in 2010. The UK had 2.5 beds per 1,000 people – Germany tripled that number .

There was the same staff gap due to falling wages, changes in working conditions and the spiraling property prices and rents, especially in large urban centers, with London being the worst of all. The physician shortage was estimated to be about 10,000 physicians, the nursing deficit about 40,000 positions.

The Conservatives had spent the decade cutting taxes for the rich and corporate and sitting down to the scandalous tax evasion of the global offshore hub that is the City of London. while utilities have survived as best they could amid cuts and freezes. When the pandemic struck, the neglect of the entire decade could not be reversed in a year with emergency measures and injections of special funds.

Johnson was one of those governments, but has only been in charge since July 2019. The Prime Minister will at some point face a public inquiry into his handling of the pandemic. These “public inquiries” are generally exhaustive and have a strong media impact. But it’s nothing more than Johnson: Conservatives shouldn’t escape a decade of irresponsibility and laziness.