Opinion | Could Britain be sued for reopening and exposing the world to new coronavirus variants?
- The UK government has lifted most of the remaining coronavirus restrictions, prompting many to celebrate
- Experts warn premature reopening creates ‘fertile ground for the emergence of vaccine-resistant variants’
Some scepticism is warranted, given Britain’s approach throughout the pandemic has hardly been a success. By July 19, there had been 128,985 deaths from Covid-19, and the death rate per 1 million population was just under 1,900.
True, there are countries with worse rates, including Hungary, Italy and the Czech Republic in Europe. But countries that have taken a different approach have vastly better figures: for example, 35.8 deaths per million of population in Australia, and 5.39 in New Zealand.
But the current situation doesn’t support such optimism. Infection rates are now the worst in Europe and the death rate is climbing. By contrast, Australia has much lower death and infection rates but state authorities have responded with lockdowns.
Furthermore, many scientists have condemned the opening up. The authors of the John Snow Memorandum stress the risks to the 17 million people in the UK who have not been vaccinated, and state: “[This approach] provides fertile ground for the emergence of