2020 is an unfortunate year one will never forget, of many times wasted and many lives were taken. Some would call it a doomsday, the world of the end. As the enemy is the rare kind none would be likely to see with naked eyes, however, they will find it difficult to breathe once they get infected. The COVID-19 pandemic is the fault of the year being unkind for everyone across the globe. There is no exception to whoever is safe or whoever is at risk – anyone can succumb to the lethal micro-disease that can kill even the strongest janitor under the Janitorial Insurance, who are at a higher risk to be exposed to the COVID-19 virus due to their daily cleaning services in the buildings.
A lot of countries, namely New Zealand and Taiwan, are able to comprehend the entire chaos and take full control of the virus, but that does not mean it is the end of their fight. The United Kingdom, however, barely handles well with everything – more than 100,000 people have died as a result of the pandemic, which has had devastating social and economic consequences. The worst part is, the number of deaths is gradually increasing as we speak.
Here is how the UK handled the COVID-19 Pandemic and how they can survive the ordeal by a whisker:
The British Government’s Response
“Keep Calm and Carry On.”
That was the public image of the United Kingdom’s governmental response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Policies had to be “science-based,” with an initial emphasis on control, which involved detecting individuals infected with SARS-Cov-2, tracing connections, and isolating people who had been exposed to the deadly virus. Though at first, the UK is late in action and low in performance quality at grasping the situation as shown from being recorded as one of the highest death rates per million, and the government’s response to COVIDd-19 was halting and inconsistent. However, the country did make a discovery about the long-awaited vaccine. AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish pharmaceutical firm, has collaborated with Oxford to produce this vaccine, and the company has signed a major distribution agreement for developing countries. Based on the findings, the side effects of the vaccine have been mild to moderate.
In conclusion, the best life-saving medication and the best candidate vaccine are both developed in the United Kingdom.
A Long Terms Of Lockdowns
On the 23rd March 2020, On March 23, the UK government declared a nationwide lockdown. People have been told not to leave their homes unless absolutely necessary, and groups of more than two people have been forbidden. All non-essential shops, churches, gyms, libraries, and playgrounds have also been shut down. The lockdown is expected to last until June 2020, but some sources say it may be extended further.
After the nationwide lockdown was declared, the number of Coronavirus cases in the country began to decrease.
A Vaccination Strategy
It all boils down to how well the UK planned and prepared for the vaccine distribution – and it has been operating smoothly and successfully. Before the first COVID-19 outbreak in the UK was confirmed, the Department of Health and Social Care started preparing a mass vaccine campaign. The government agreed to buy 100 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and 30 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine over the year.
UK Citizens’ Evacuation From Wuhan
The Wuhan coronavirus outbreak has been declared a significant and immediate danger to the United Kingdom by the UK Department of Health, with the number of reported COVID-19 (previously 2019-nCOV) global cases increasing around the world. With no further ado, the British government has begun flying its people out of Wuhan in special planes.
It was recorded that there were a total of 118 evacuees who arrived in the United Kingdom on February 9th and were housed in a 300-bed facility at Kents Hill Park in Milton Keynes for 14 days, the incubation period for the COVID-19 virus. After testing negative for the virus, the evacuees were released from quarantine on February 23.
The UK has endured various ups and downs – from delaying response to the rising tide of death counts caused by the lethal disease. The death toll has been inflated by a series of government blunders, miscalculations, and delayed responses. Although progress has been made, most noticeably in the United Kingdom with its rapid vaccine rollout, deaths continue to increase, leaving countless people bereaved. Although the country brought promising vaccination results, it may take a while for those heavily affected, especially the citizens, to forgive the unsatisfactory steps taken against the crisis. As much as there are crucial moments to flatten the curve, the whole occurrence is never about the graph shape, modeling, and epidemiology. Rather, it is about safeguarding and prioritizing the lives and societies that are most clearly at risk in our unequal society.