COVID-19 War: United Kingdom’s Strategy During the First Wave

Abstract

This opinion piece is a reflection on the UK government’s policy response to the war against the COVID-19 pandemic. In the initial stages, concerns were raised with respect to a lack of effective personal protective equipment, availability of ventilators and diagnostic tests. The early defective strategy based on the flawed assumption of building herd immunity in the population was quickly replaced with isolation and social distancing. Subsequently, testing and contact tracing were adopted which too has been criticised for being ‘too little, too late’. With the possibility of the second wave, the concern is the extent to which the United Kingdom has learnt lessons from the first wave and is in a position to effectively respond to the second wave of COVID-19.

Overarching policies to address the pandemic crisis in Europe

“…Namely, they aimed at broadening the peak of the pandemic and allowing immunity to develop among the population. For instance, the UK government allowed 60% of its population to be exposed to the virus hoping to build herd immunity (Bhatia 2020).…”

COVID-19 and BAME Group in the United Kingdom

“…Many healthcare workers have bravely provided services without adequate protective equipment in spite of obvious risk to themselves and their families. Government of the UK has been criticised for the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) for its health staff elsewhere (Bhatia et al 2020).…”