The British Medical Association (BMA) has urged the UK Government this week to rethink its plan to relax all restrictions owing to the surge in COVID-19 infection rates.
The association has been a leading voice in the debate on the issue on the national and international media.
Senior BMA members including chair of council Chaand Nagpaul and co-chairs of the BMA’s public health committee Penelope Toff and Richard Jarvis co-signed a letter in The Lancet published on Thursday – which described the easing of restrictions as ‘reckless’.
Dr Nagpaul also appeared on the BBC’s Newsnight last night (9 July) saying it was ‘folly’ for the UK Government to press ahead with easing all restrictions on 19 July. He pointed to the growing evidence of spiralling infections leading to growing hospitalisations as well as wider effects on public health.
‘We need to dispel the idea we’ve broken the link with hospitalisations. It’s diluted but we have about three times as many people on ventilators than this time last month and two and a half times more people in hospital than last month,’ he said and added that if the trends continue this will further increase the pressures on the NHS.
Dr Nagpaul added that this was not simply a secondary care issue but there were now growing numbers of the population suffering from the condition not going to hospital many of whom will go on to have long COVID.
The BMA is arguing for the UK Government to maintain some targeted control measure in place after 19 July including the requirement to continue wearing face coverings in indoor public settings and improved messaging on social distancing and meeting outdoors where possible.
Dr Nagpaul (above) said full easing on the timescale proposed ‘defied public health logic’ – further unlocking of restrictions was a matter of timings rather than ‘indefinite restrictions’. Dr Nagpaul also appeared on CNN on Thursday arguing for targeted restrictions to remain.
Following Monday’s press conference by the prime minister, the chief medical officer and the chief scientific adviser, the BMA issued a statement describing the proposed easing of restriction as ‘incredibly concerning’.
‘There is a clear disconnect with the actions the Government is planning to take and the data and views of the scientific community and medical profession,’ it says.
On Monday evening deputy council chair David Wrigley appeared on Channel 5 News to reflect on the announcement and said getting rid of restrictions was ‘reckless’ and was a ‘recipe for seeing an increase in infections which is not good for the NHS and not good for patients’.
The BMA believes targeted measures and support are needed beyond 19 July
The situation in Scotland remains concerning, where Covid levels are among the highest in Europe and hospitals are coming under increasing pressure.
The Scottish Cabinet meets on Tuesday morning and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will update Holyrood on Scotland’s plans for moving to Level 0 on Tuesday afternoon.
The Scottish Government had originally planned that all parts of Scotland woud be in level zero from 19 July, allowing some additional relaxation to rules on physical distancing and outdoor gatherings.
Following these initial easings in July, the plan is that more restrictions will be removed on 9 August, including lifting the legal requirement to physically distance indoors.
However the Scottish Government has repeatedly said it will be driven by ‘data not dates’ and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said earlier this week that these dates are not written in ‘tablets of stone’.