Boris Johnson accused of 'giving in to scientists' after announcing another COVID lockdown

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been accused of “giving in to scientific advisers” by a former leader of his Conservative Party, Duncan Smith after the British PM announced a lockdown for England in the wake of concerns raised by the experts.  From saying that Johnson has been “pressurised” by government experts into announcing lockdown to claiming that the “system has broken down” with the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), Smith denounced the Conservative government’s approach to COVID-19 pandemic in UK’s Telegraph newspaper. 

The former Conservative leader, Duncan Smith wrote, “Normally, advisers advise and ministers decide. Yet that system has broken down with Sage [the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies] believing its advice to be more like commandments written on stone and its members publicly lecturing the Government over the airways.” However, as per reports, many other experts believe that Johnson announced the lockdown really late. 

Read - Report: Britain's Prince William Had Coronavirus In April

Read - UK Says 4-week Coronavirus Lockdown May Have To Last Longer

COVID-19 in UK

SAGE had first suggested stringent restriction measures at least six weeks ago and had called for a short “circuit-breaker” lockdown to bring the number of COVID-19 cases down. The group had reportedly said in a document released on September 21 that “a package of interventions will need to be adopted to prevent this exponential rise in cases,”  including the closure of bars, restaurants and gyms. Since then the infections in the UK have been escalating for several weeks. The Office for National Statistics has now estimated that every one person in 100 has COVID-19 compared to one in 2,300 in July and one in 200 at the beginning of October.

In the wake of the critical situation of the nation, Johnson’s government was advised that if no action was not taken, the National Health Service’s bed capacity would be crossed by the first week of December itself. As per Johnson Hopkins University tally, the UK recorded its highest number of daily COVID-19 infections on October 21 with 26,706 new cases. Till now, since the pandemic began, Britain has recorded over one million total cases with more than 46,800 deaths. 

Read - Gove Doesn't Rule Out England Lockdown Extension

Read - UK Heads For Complete Lockdown As Coronavirus Tally Crosses One Million Mark