UK Reaches 100 Thousand Deaths Due To COVID-19, Experts Highlight Policy In December

COVID Illustration 19. (Prasesh Shiwakoti / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Britain has recorded 3,689,746 positive confirmed cases of COVID-19 and a death rate of up to 100,162 cases, as of Tuesday, January 26. This gives Britain the fifth highest death toll in the world.

This death rate is also higher than the victims of British civilians who died in World War II, even double the number of victims as a result of the German Nazi bombing in 1940-1941.

This made British Prime Minister Boris Johnson apologize and condolences for the loss of British lives due to COVID-19. He also said that he was responsible for everything that happened for every government policy.

"It's hard to quantify the sadness contained in these grim statistics, the years of life lost, family gatherings that were not attended, and so many relatives missed the opportunity, even to say goodbye," Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.

Meanwhile, experts assess what is happening in Britain today, as the government has not learned from the past and is still implementing a less coherent strategy.

President of the British Academy of Medical Sciences Prof. Anne Johnson said there was a clear correlation between easing restrictions before Christmas and the recent spike in infections.

"The new variant is important and more transmissible, but it is not the only cause of the third wave. Let's be clear," he told CNN, referring to the presence of a new variant of the coronavirus.

This statement is related to the 'permission' from the government to celebrate the Christmas holiday with the family, the easing of the lockdown, causing the spike in infections.

"It's inevitable, if you get out of lockdown on December 2, like we did, with people choking to go to the store and out and about, and we have three weeks before Christmas. That would definitely be a moment to look more transmission (contagions)," said Prof. Anne Johnson.