The pursuit of a failed ‘herd immunity’ strategy last March led to a deadly week-long delay in bringing in the first lockdown, leading to thousands of avoidable deaths.īoris then dithered again in the autumn. As with the introduction of the last two national lockdowns, the Prime Minister has once again dragged his feet and ignored the advice of scientific experts, only to bow to the inevitable in the face of catastrophe. Yesterday’s lockdown announcement, for example, followed a painfully familiar pattern. There has also been a clear inflection point in deaths, which have climbed to almost 100 per day (last seen in April). There are now 5,861 Covid patients in London’s hospitals, almost 700 more than at the worst point in April. It is this rotten government’s recklessness, arrogance, and incompetence that has allowed the epidemic to repeatedly get out of control, with fatal effects. But the truth is that it is they – the Tories – who are to blame. Johnson and his ministers have blamed a new, more contagious strain of the virus for the recent chaos. Even with the latest measures, epidemiologists are now predicting that this number will rise to over 100,000. Prior to yesterday, across the UK, over 500 COVID-19 mortalities had been recorded for each of the past six days, bringing the total death toll to over 75,000.

The death rate is also approaching figures from last April. As of Sunday, there were almost 25,000 COVID-19 patients in English hospitals – one third higher than that seen at the peak of the first wave and a 29% increase in the space of just a week. In reality, the situation is even worse now than then. Last night, with COVID cases soaring, Boris Johnson announced a third national lockdown, with restrictions similar to those brought in when the pandemic first hit Britain’s shores almost nine months ago.

Less than a week into the New Year, and already society has been thrown back to the darkest days of 2020. We need a bold socialist response to the pandemic. But it is their recklessness that has landed us in this situation.

And internationally, strong multilateral cooperation is essential to overcome the effects of the pandemic, including to help financially constrained countries facing twin health and funding shocks, and for channeling aid to countries with weak health care systems.Johnson and the Tories have attempted to blame a new variant of the virus for the catastrophe that is unfolding. Because the economic fallout is acute in specific sectors, policymakers will need to implement substantial targeted fiscal, monetary, and financial market measures to support affected households and businesses domestically. Effective policies are essential to forestall the possibility of worse outcomes, and the necessary measures to reduce contagion and protect lives are an important investment in long-term human and economic health. The risks for even more severe outcomes, however, are substantial. In a baseline scenario-which assumes that the pandemic fades in the second half of 2020 and containment efforts can be gradually unwound-the global economy is projected to grow by 5.8 percent in 2021 as economic activity normalizes, helped by policy support. As a result of the pandemic, the global economy is projected to contract sharply by –3 percent in 2020, much worse than during the 2008–09 financial crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic is inflicting high and rising human costs worldwide, and the necessary protection measures are severely impacting economic activity.

London lockdown 3.0