‘Bonkers’: British virologist’s fear as England celebrates ‘Freedom Day’

Revellers queued outside nightclubs at midnight, piling in to uncapped venues with no mask requirements as England lifted most COVID-19 restrictions after more than a year.

‘Freedom Day’ comes despite a daily figure of about 50,000 COVID-19 cases and rising.

Virologist at the Warwick Medical School at the University of Warwick, Professor Lawrence Young, says it’s a “bonkers” situation.

While the number of serious illnesses and hospitalisations has fallen compared to the number of positive tests, Professor Young says the decision to ease almost all rules will “put a great burden on our national health services”.

“It’s far too premature and in fact it’s a bit of a crazy thing to do if you just look at the number of cases.

“We have … weakened the link between the number of cases and hospitalisations, but hospitalisations no less are increasing.”

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