‘Lockdown Lite’: nations test new strategy to fight coronavirus outbreaks
- Europe faces a resurgence of coronavirus cases, forcing governments to consider reintroducing tough measures
- In the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned restrictions could last up to six months
Fresh off a summer of relative freedom after harsh lockdowns at the beginning of the pandemic, Europe is trying a new strategy to halt next coronavirus surge: Lockdown Lite. This comes as the European Union’s disease control agency warned that seven EU countries are of “high concern” because of rising virus death rates.
Unlike the blanket stay-at-home orders that characterised responses to Covid-19’s first wave, a partial lockdown isn’t designed to stop transmission completely. Instead, the idea is to home in on hotspots – certain neighbourhoods, nightclubs or private parties, for example – while leaving large parts of the economy open for business.
With death rates running at only a small fraction of the levels last spring despite surging infections in France, Spain, the UK and other countries, governments want to avoid draconian measures that caused their worst recessions in memory. Partial and shifting lockdowns were likely to become the norm into next year at least, as countries wait for an immunisation that’s effective and broadly accessible.
Worldwide nearly 32 million people have been infected and 975,000 have died since the virus was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019 and spread across the globe.
The United States has passed 200,000 deaths, the world’s highest toll, with Brazil, India and Mexico the next most severely affected countries.
“We have a lot left to go,” said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. “I don’t think people really fully understand that. We’re still in the middle innings of a baseball game at the best.”