Boris Johnson plans to lift all the pandemic restrictions for England as early as Monday, according to the Guardian.
This is a threat to the world and could prove to be a catalyst for the emergence of vaccine-resistant variants, international experts say.
Britain is a major global transportation hub that would allow any potential new variant to quickly spread around the world at a rapid pace.
Scientists warned at an emergency summit how severe the risk is to lift the pandemic restrictions this early. Government advisers representing Israel, Italy and New Zealand were among the officials present at the summit.
Around 1,200 scientists got behind a letter to the Lancet journal, explaining the potential development that could see new vaccine-resistant variants of the coronavirus.
Professor Christina Pagel, director of University College London’s clinical operation research unit, said during the meeting: : “Because of our position as a global travel hub, any variant that becomes dominant in the UK will likely spread to the rest of the globe. The UK policy doesn’t just affect us. It affects everybody and everybody has a stake in what we do.”
The letter to the Lancet journal: “We believe the government is embarking on a dangerous and unethical experiment, and we call on it to pause plans to abandon mitigations on July 19, 2021.”
