Cold feet...lockdown Britain out for stroll
Call to accelerate lifting of ‘lazy’ restrictions
LOCKDOWN weary Britons braved the cold yesterday as they flocked to parks and city centres for a walk – and to do some essential shopping.
Despite the “stay at home and essential travel only” rules still in force for the next three weeks, people got out and about, including along Newcastle Quayside.
Greenwich Park in London was also busy with walkers as police officers talked to four people sitting close to each other on the grass.
And shoppers queued to enter a B&Q in Ashford, Kent, pictured right, as they took advantage of the bright and sunny weather to get DIY supplies.
Tomorrow sees a rule change which allows two members of different households to meet outdoors for exercise or socially.
LOCKDOWNS are a “lazy way of dealing with the pandemic” and “theoretical concerns” about variants must not be used to keep them in place, a scientific adviser to the Government has said.
Professor Mark Woolhouse, who sits on SPI-M, the group that feeds into Sage, said while it is right to monitor new variants such as the Brazilian one, this should not slow the process of lifting restrictions.
Some scientists have warned that emerging variants could delay the return to normality, with a possibility of the UK going “backwards” on the roadmap out of the pandemic.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said that lockdown lifting will be judged on a series of factors, including the threat posed by variants.
But, speaking in a personal capacity, Prof Woolhouse said he considered lockdowns to be a “failure of policy” and that the data is not strong enough to delay opening up.
An expert in infectious disease, based at the University of Edinburgh, Prof Woolhouse said: “We are getting an extraordinarily detailed view of these viruses thanks to our genomic sequencing, but we are focusing too much on it, as opposed to the immediate practical challenges of rolling out the vaccine and opening up society.
“If holding back and being cautious didn’t come with costs there would be no debate. But every lockdown is damaging and this lockdown is perhaps the most damaging.
“It is important to get us out of it as quickly as possible. I am uncomfortable with holding back because of theoretical concerns.”
It has been suggested that suppressing the virus would limit its chances of mutating.
However, Prof Woolhouse said: “Right now our understanding of the evolution of this virus is still developing. Of course it is right to be concerned. The point of contention is whether the emergence of variants should mean we suppress the virus to stop generating more variants, as the Government has suggested. My view is that we simply don’t have the level of biological understanding to make that link.
“Whatever we do, variants will appear and it’s too simplistic to say if we take course of action A, B or C – such as suppressing the virus – then the virus will evolve in a way we prefer.”
He welcomed the fact that the UK had an advanced sequencing programme to help identify mutations but said this did not mean we could predictably interfere with their spread. “Of course we need to monitor what it is doing, but I’m sceptical we can manage its evolution.”
He added that the infection rate is low, the vaccine rollout had been
more successful than some of the more pessimistic forecasts and our exit from lockdown should reflect this rather than the fixed dates given by Boris Johnson on February 22.
Prof Woolhouse said that “all of the data we now have is on the positive end of the spectrum, and updated model projections should reflect that”.
He added: “The empirical data is positive, making it possible now to accelerate unlocking. That is real data – that is real evidence,” he said.
“The rationale for keeping
schools closed has gone and there was never a need to stop people going outside other than an overabundance of caution.
“We should not still be doing this now, a year into the epidemic.”
Going into lockdown would come to be seen as an error, he added. “I hope we never go down the lockdown route again, and when we look back on this more calmly, we will realise it was a massive mistake.
“Lockdown is a lazy way of dealing with the pandemic – all it requires is a government edict and a modicum of enforcement.
“If you want to control the virus in other ways you have to properly invest and put effort into the public health response, proper testing and surveillance – even more than we have done so far.” Professor David
Paton, from the University of Nottingham, who is an expert in health economics, said: “Data from across the world shows that infection rates can rise and fall regardless of government interventions. We can artificially suppress the virus for a bit but it just comes back and the Government has overestimated the amount they can control this virus with restrictions.”
The Government has made the risk from variants one of its four tests for easing lockdown.
But Professor Sharon Peacock, head of the Covid-19 Genomics UK scientific body, said variants were “very unlikely” to stop restrictions being lifted. She added: “I’m very optimistic that the vaccines will be ...effective and that we’ll be in a better place by summer and autumn.”
‘We will realise it was a big mistake’
THE family of a woman who vanished after leaving a friend’s house on Wednesday say they are desperate to know where she is as police released footage of her journey.
Sarah Everard, 33, disappeared during a 50-minute walk back to her home in Brixton, south London, on Wednesday night.
The marketing account manager is believed to have walked across Clapham Common, after visiting a friend’s house in Clapham.
Police have become increasingly concerned for her welfare and yesterday released a CCTV image of her captured during the walk home.
It is understood she spoke to her partner on the phone for 15 minutes during the first part of the walk, but the call ended at 9.28pm.
Sarah’s family said in a statement: “With every day that goes by we are getting more worried about Sarah.
“She is always in regular contact with us and with her friends and it is totally out of character for her to disappear like this.
“We long to see her and want nothing more than for her to be found safe and well.
“We are desperate for news and if anyone knows anything about what has happened to her, we would urge you to please come forward and speak to the police.”
A Met Police spokesman said: “Sarah left the friend’s house in Leathwaite Road through a back gate on to the
A205 South Circular and began walking home. It is unclear if she returned to her home address.”
Police and volunteers from London Search and Rescue have been carrying out searches between Clapham Common and Brixton.
Detective Chief Inspector Ian Kenward said: “Sarah’s disappearance is completely out of character and understandably family and friends are incredibly worried.
“We are also growing increasingly concerned for her welfare and have officers working around the clock to try to find her.
“I would ask anybody who was in the Clapham Common area on Wednesday night to think about whether you saw Sarah or any suspicious activity around the time of her disappearance.”
Officers are also asking people to check doorbell or dashcam footage for any sightings of Sarah.
She was last seen wearing a green rain jacket, navy trousers with a white diamond pattern and turquoise-and-orange trainers.
She was also thought to have been wearing green earphones and a white beanie hat.
A friend, Rose Woollard, said: “It is extremely uncharacteristic of her to have gone missing, which is why we are all deeply concerned something has happened to her.”