【Article/Observer Network Columnist Wu Peng】
Recently, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is deeply trapped in the "party door", is in a state of distress, and may even lose his position. The Guardian said it was only a matter of time before Johnson stepped down and could be forced to resign within two weeks.
At the beginning of the new year, on January 4, the new crown cases in the United Kingdom showed a new round of peak, and the British government announced that the number of new crown cases increased by 218724, exceeding 200,000 for the first time. Subsequently, the single-day increase in cases showed a downward trend.
Unexpectedly, not only did the UK government not take another lockdown or other stricter measures, but instead, the UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid announced on January 13, 2022, that "in England, the self-isolation period for people who test positive for Covid-19 will be shortened to 5 days".
This is the second time England has shortened its self-isolation period during the new peak. On 22 December 2021, the UK government announced that the quarantine period for testing positive was shortened from 10 days to 7 days.
In the third year of the epidemic, more British residents have become accustomed to the "growth" related to the epidemic in the news and have begun to take "confirmed" for granted. As Sajid Javid claims, "Protect our health and freedom as we learn to live with COVID-19".
A friend of a Chinese student studying in the United Kingdom who is a junior in college told this writer, "I shared an apartment with 5 classmates, and some time ago 3 of my classmates were infected with the new crown", "Now everyone around me has 'caught a cold' with the new crown virus, in fact, the symptoms are similar to the cold, these students turned yin during the self-isolation period, and the symptoms gradually disappeared a few days after the yin", "May have taken some vitamins".
"There are studies that show that vaccination can be effective in reducing the severity of the disease rate", "many deaths are due to no vaccination, or only one shot of the vaccine", and another university student from the United Kingdom who has been infected with the new crown virus has a similar view, and believes that the symptoms when he is infected are no different from those of a heavier cold.
According to the UK government's statistics, as of January 13, 2022, the first dose of the population over 12 years old reached 90.5%, the second dose of vaccination rate reached 83.2%, and the third dose of vaccination rate reached 62.9%. Another set of data shows that the number of new deaths from the new coronavirus on January 14, 2022 still reached 270, and the number of deaths infected with the new crown virus since the beginning of the epidemic has totaled 151612.
According to one person who works in the retail industry, "the company requires us to get a third dose of the vaccine, otherwise, we may be reduced in benefits or reduced performance through job transfers." Another student in the UK also added, "Some people are not vaccinated because of physical discomfort, doctors also recommend not to be vaccinated, and some people are worried that the government has some interest in the vaccine company, and they have a second and third injection."
"In fact, more British people, like the government, are looking forward to economic recovery and putting everything on track while the grief of the death of their loved ones and friends caused by the epidemic."
"We don't want to lock down the city", "This will reduce the quality of life, the income will also be reduced", "Now the British government has made it clear to universities that they will not stand for online classes", "Some universities continue to take online classes to save costs, some time ago the university union protested that due to online remote work, it actually secretly increased the workload, but also complained that universities do not consider the psychological factors of staff", a staff member from a university institution explained his reasons.
However, there are some data showing the contribution of the British people to the economic recovery. Previously, the UK Companies Registry's "Company Registration Campaign: 2020 to 2021", published on 24 June 2021, showed that 2020 to 2021 was the highest number of companies registered in history, with 810,316 companies registered between 2020 and 2021, an increase of 21.8% compared to 2019-2020.
Recently, the statistical report released by the British government seems to have also given the British people a glimmer of hope. On January 14, 2022, the Office for National Statistics published an article estimating GDP growth of 0.9% in November 2021, exceeding 0.7% before the pandemic (February 2020) for the first time. It also pointed out that the service industry is the main growth point, and of the 14 industry segments in the service industry, 8 are more than before the epidemic, of which human health and social work activities, wholesale and retail trade, and arts, entertainment and leisure contribute the most.
Uk Finance Minister Rishi Sunak posted on social media that "it is surprising that the size of the economy returned to pre-pandemic levels in November – a testament to the courage and determination of the British people".
Other data also show signs that the UK economy is picking up. According to the UK Labour Market Overview published by the Office for National Statistics on 14 December 2021, according to current statistical methods, there were 29.4 million salaried employees in the UK as of November 2021, an increase of 424,000 after a low of 28.086 million in January 2021 compared to before the epidemic in February 2020. The UK Jobs, released on the same day, notes that the number of people working part-time has begun to pick up gradually after experiencing a continuous decline in the initial period of the epidemic (statistics from January to March 2020) to March-May 2021.
However, with the spread of the mutant strain Omicron, the epidemic in the UK is experiencing a new peak at this time (Note: the daily increase in new crown cases reported on December 13, 2021 exceeded 80,000, an increase of 30,000 over the previous day, and continued to increase until January 4, 2022), and the negative impact of this peak on the British economy and society is also emerging. Whether economic growth in December 2021 and January 2022 will remain at November 2021 levels remains in doubt; Aumechon may shorten britain's "respite".
In fact, another report from the Office for National Statistics noted that in late December 2021, about 3% of the workforce was estimated to be on sick leave or unable to work due to symptoms of covid-19, self-isolation or isolation, the highest since the statistics began in June 2020.
In addition, the impact of the British economy by the epidemic is not only the continuous slowdown in economic growth, but also the "internal injury". According to the Office for National Statistics, the CPIH (consumer price index, including home ownership costs), which measures inflation, as of November 2021, reached its highest value since September 2008, up 4.6 percentage points in the past 12 months.
Whether the rising number of new crown cases can get rid of the high level and whether the bud of economic recovery can grow further will remain for the UK in 2022. Of course, perhaps at this difficult time, the British will have to make time to see a "transfiguration" drama.
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