UK Health Minister resigns after love scandal and thousands marched in London against restrictions

UK Health Minister Matt Hancock He resigned after photographs were published revealing an alleged affair with one of his assistants and violated social distancing rules during the pandemic. His resignation, triggered by a scandalous cover of The Sun newspaper, comes amid massive marches that took place in central London this Saturday to protest coronavirus restrictions in the UK.

Thousands of people have taken to the streets in the United Kingdom to protest after the postponement until July of the lifting of the last health measures due to the increase in infections attributed to the Delta variant.

“Those of us who make the rules have to abide by them, and that is why I have to step down,” said Hancock, one of the main officials so far of the pandemic strategy in the United States. , in a video posted on Twitter. British government.

Hancock has been criticized not so much for the “personal affair” revealed by The Sun after the publication of photographs with her alleged lover, but for hiring the woman months ago – married and with children like him – as as a consultant to the ministry.

He also received criticism for breaking the rules of Covid-19 which at the time of the hug – on May 6 – still imposed distancing in the UK from people who do not live together or are outside the family circle.

Hancock said in a statement prior to his resignation: “I accept that I violated the guide to social distancing under these circumstances,” adding, “I let people down and I am so sorry.”

In the center of the British capital, demonstrators marched from Hyde Park to Parliament with flags and banners bearing the word “freedom”.

“I’m here because I think the lockdown has taken away our freedom and our rights,” said Iain McCausland, from South Devon County. “I am very angry with the government, like everyone here,” he added, quoted by the AFP news agency.

Shouting “Shame!”, The demonstrators tennis balls were thrown at the Prime Minister’s official residence, Boris Johnson, located at 10 Downing Street, facing Westminster Houses of Parliament.

Despite the progress of the vaccination campaign and a long confinement in winter, the United Kingdom has been facing a wave of infections attributed to the variant for a few weeks. Delta, initially detected in India and much more contagious.

According to official figures, cases of this variant of the coronavirus have increased in the UK by 46% compared to last week.

In addition, approximately the 99% of active confirmed cases in UK belong to the Delta variant, urging the Prime Minister to extend the end of restrictions by one month.

With 128,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic, the country has now recorded more than 18,000 new cases of coronavirus in 24 hours.

A total of 43,448,860 doses of vaccine were also administered between the first and second doses.

Source: agencies