As an inexorable reflection of the action of the coronavirus, four days ago the United Kingdom lifted several restrictions due to COVID-19 and no longer only new infections are growing daily, but also hospitalization, especially of older people.
The government led by Boris Johnson has removed all international travel restrictions related to the coronavirus since yesterday. The measure came into effect just before the start of the Easter holidays. On this date, British tourism will seek to promote consumption and commercial activity.
“The UK is leading the world in lifting all remaining COVID-19 travel restrictions, and the announcement is a testament to the hard work everyone in this country has done to implement the vaccine and protect each other,” said Grant Shapps, British Transport Secretary.
But the virus does not recognize restrictions and proof of this is that nearly 100,000 infections are being recorded daily in recent days. Nearly 3.3 million people were infected with COVID-19 in the week ending March 12, an increase of 26% from the previous week and the highest level recorded since mid-February.
A striking fact that alerts specialists is that, driven by the Ómicron BA.2 subvariant, the growth of infections hit the most those over 70 years old, according to the British government.
The news was highlighted by the prestigious doctor Eric Topol who wrote on Twitter: “Coronavirus infections among those over 70 in the UK rose to a record level in mid-March, according to the Office for National Statistics”
Dr. Sarah Crofts, head of analytical results for the British government, pointed out that people over 70 years old are the age group most susceptible to serious diseases. On March 16, English hospitals recorded 1,823 hospitalizations due to COVID-19, an increase of 20 percent from the same day the previous week and the highest daily figure since January 13. In Scotland, the number of patients with COVID is almost at the peak of January. On Friday there were 2050 hospital beds occupied with COVID patients.
While several countries, such as the United Kingdom, have decreased care measures around the coronavirus, such as the use of masks outdoors or in some enclosed spaces, the world sees an increase in infections, especially in Asia and Europe, with many countries breaking records for daily infections this week (Korea of the South reported 620,000 infections yesterday; Japan 56,573 and China isolates cities with millions of people). On the European side, several nations add tens of thousands of infections daily. Yesterday, the United Kingdom counted nearly 90,000 cases; Germany, 269,980; France 101,747; the Netherlands 53,0667 and Italy 79,895.
In Argentina, 24 hours ago, the Ministry of Health reported 77 deaths from coronavirus and 14,416 new infections. This last figure has not been reached since February 22, although the health portfolio clarified that the sum is due to the delay in loading in CABA, since this week's daily numbers were around 6000 or 5000 infections. With today's data, the total number of cases in the country since the beginning of the pandemic is now 9,004,829, while deaths total 127,439.
In our country, too, some easing of care measures against the pathogen began to be known. This Friday, the City of Buenos Aires announced that it will no longer require the use of a mask in schools. The head of the Buenos Aires government, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, reported that, starting next Monday, the mask will be optional in class and that the measure will apply to the three levels: initial, primary and secondary.
Until now, only kindergarten children and students up to third grade were exempt from wearing the mask in class. The measure extends flexibilization to all grades of primary school and adds to secondary school.
Also on the last working day of the week, the mayor of La Plata, Julio Garro, announced the end of the mandatory use of the mask for public transport, shops and municipal offices of the capital of Buenos Aires. From next week, masks will be optional for “the circulation, provision of services and any public or private activity that takes place in the La Plata Party”.
“We have decided, by decree, that starting Monday the use of masks in public spaces, municipal offices and means of transport in La Plata will become optional. Also in shops, with the incumbents arranging its implementation”, announced the community head of Juntos por el Cambio from social networks. The measure generated a strong rejection by the government of the province of Buenos Aires and opened a new rift over the use of the mask.
From the healthcare portfolio run by Nicolás Kreplak, they called Garro's measure “irresponsible” and assured that the decision was made “without any scientific and health knowledge”. In addition, the Buenos Aires minister himself announced that, if there is no new peak in cases of COVID-19 in the next month and a half, in May he will propose nationally that the withdrawal of masks in classrooms for all schools.
When asked by Infobae, Gabriela Piovano, an infectiologist at the Muñiz Hospital, said: “I think that any successful attempt to decree the end of the pandemic, as Europe did on several occasions, was a failure that led to an increase in cases. This measure does or does lead to an increase in contagion in the future. Fortunately, Argentina, and especially the province of Buenos Aires, has had a vigorous vaccination plan that protects the serious evolution of the disease. That can give us an outbreak of cases with few serious pictures.”
“First of all, we must remember that several countries have made progress to that extent, such as the United Kingdom and the United States. It is not bad to update some measures according to the evolution of the virus. However, one of the biggest risks that this measure can have is that there may be a new wave for our autumn-winter, something that is happening in other countries today. That is why it is an important risk to tell the population to stop taking a preventive measure and then tell them otherwise,” Dr. Ricardo Teijeiro, an infectiologist and member of the Argentine Society of Infectology (SADI), explained to Infobae.
The dynamism of the pandemic prompts us to closely monitor the evolution of the pathogen and the behavior of its most infectious variants. Therefore, the authorities will observe whether these flexibilizations can be maintained for the autumn that will begin in the next few hours.
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