The UK’s second coronavirus wave is nothing like its first, but its effects are beginning to bite. Next week Boris Johnson is likely to impose tighter restrictions on the north of England, in line with those imposed on pubs and restaurants across Scotland this week. It is unclear if either measure will arrest the rise of Covid-19 cases – countries that have been more successful at controlling the virus, such as Japan, have not needed to introduce such restrictions.
Some of the government’s decisions may even be fuelling transmission rather than preventing it: cases continue to rise most in the local areas with the greatest restrictions. We know very little, as the government has not shared any scientific data justifying its measures, nor any data proving their success. (It is also failing to encourage other scientifically proven steps to prevent transmission, such as telling everyone to ventilate every indoor space they are in.)
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