Leading doctors have urged the government to maintain some measures in England after 19 juillet to control the spread and increase the number of cases.According to the British Medical Association (BMA), it is crucial to have some protection measures in place to prevent spiralling numbers of cases having a devastating effect on people's health, the NHS and education.BMA council chair Dr Chaand Nagpaul stated that easing restrictions is not an all-or-no decision and that it was important to take sensible and cautious steps to minimize the impact of new variants, lockdowns, and further waves.He said that as the number of cases continues to rise due to rapid transmission of the Delta variant, and an increase in people mixing with each other, it doesn't make sense to lift all restrictions in less than two weeks.We were promised to make decisions based upon data, not dates. While we were happy to see the government respond to data by delaying the easing on the 21st of June, we believe ministers should not ignore the most recent and damning numbers and rush to meet their 19 July deadline.This is amidst reports that ministers are considering dropping all legal requirements, including self-isolation, for fully vaccinated persons who come in contact with an infected person.According to The Times, a meeting of Covid operations committee members will be held on Monday. Ministers are expected sign off a plan which will allow fully vaccinated people to undergo daily testing but they will not have to.Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, has stated that double-jabbed Britons should have the right to travel to Europe in the near future without being quarantined.After meeting with Boris Johnson at Chequers, she said that travel restrictions have been reviewed for coronavirus vaccine recipients who received two of the vaccines.She revealed that she was concerned about the number of football fans allowed to attend Euro 2020 matches in Wembley.Johnson stated that he is more confident than ever about his ability to continue with the final phase in his plans to end England's lockdown on July 19th to bring back life as it was before Covid.Sajid Javid, the new health secretary, confirmed earlier this week that Step 4 of his road map will be carried out at that point. However, he did not confirm to MPs that it would mean the end to all measures.Public Health England data show that 161,981 confirmed cases and probable cases have been identified in the UK. This is an increase of 50,824, 46% on the previous week.The UK continues to have approximately 95% of confirmed coronavirus cases due to the Delta variant. It was first discovered in India.The Office for National Statistics (ONS), which released the most recent figures, shows that approximately one in every 260 households in England had Covid during the week ending June 26th.This is an increase from the one in 440 recorded in the previous week, and the highest since 27 February.Nagpaul stated that while hospitalisations were still low in comparison to the increase in cases, they were growing at a rapid pace, with twice the number of Covid patients being admitted to beds and placed on ventilators than last month.He said that even though people don't get admitted to hospitals at the same pace, spiralling levels in community transmission provide fertile ground for potential vaccine-resistant variants to be developed.He said that the BMA did not ask for a complete delay to 19 July, but rather a series of targeted actions to prevent the spread of the virus.These include requiring people continue to wear masks in enclosed public places such as shops and public transport.Nagpaul said that everyone appreciates the sacrifices and efforts made to stop the spread of the virus. It would be tragic to reverse this positive work.We don't ask for a complete delay on 19 July. Instead, we want a series sensible and targeted measures that will help to prevent the spread of the virus, while having minimal impact on daily life.
