Concerns and criticisms emerge from some British scientists and doctors about the decision taken yesterday by the government of Boris Johnson to wait for greater clarity on the data before deciding on a possible crackdown on anti-Covid restrictions to curb the surge in cases fueled in the United United by the new Omicron variant.

The indications of the premier, weakened by a series of recent setbacks and by the internal fringe of part of the Tory majority, seem at the moment to actually point to a potential postponement of the squeeze until immediately after Christmas; but experts like epidemiologist Paul Hunter fear that waiting for data consolidation could prove too late if only to slow a wave of hospitalizations that could fill public health service hospitals - especially if the measures were only adopted for New Year's.

Professor Jeremy Farrar, infectious disease specialist and former consultant of the same government on the pandemic, for his part underlines the "dizzying transmissibility" of the new variant. But it still grants the executive a window of "24-36 hours" to be able to decide whether the trend will "remain" that of the last few days.

In the United Kingdom, the increase in Omicron infections is constant, albeit lower in relation to the population than countries such as Denmark, Ireland and various non-European countries, and very similar to France or Germany (which have also recently shown a greater increase in deaths).

Meanwhile, from the business world, the urge to BoJo to get out of the "confusion" and to clarify the possible measures in sight rises: especially since the premier, without announcing them yet, yesterday categorically refused to exclude them, reserving "every option" in case of necessity, including that of a new lockdown or semi-lockdown.

(Unioneonline / vl)

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