LONDON -- The four nations of the United Kingdom faced mounting calls Tuesday to scrap, or at least limit, a planned easing of coronavirus restrictions over Christmas following a spike in new infections.
Talks between leaders from across the U.K. over the planned easing are set to resume today, a day that will see London and some surrounding areas join other parts of Britain in facing much more stringent restrictions.
Michael Gove, one of the most senior members in the British government, which sets public health policy for England, held talks Tuesday with leaders from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Though no change of plan was announced, further discussions are set to take place today.
The pressure on them to ditch the scheduled five-day easing -- which would allow three households to form a so-called bubble in and out of the home -- ratcheted higher through the day, with concerns voiced from across the political spectrum.
Perhaps loudest was a joint editorial from two of the country's leading medical journals. In only their second joint editorial in their more than 100-year histories, the British Medical Journal and the Health Service Journal urged a rethink of a "rash" decision that they said will "cost many lives."
"We are publishing it because we believe the government is about to blunder into another major error," they said.
Britain's Conservative government, along with the devolved administrations, agreed last month to allow a maximum of three households to mix between Dec. 23 and Dec. 27, regardless of what local restrictions are in place.
But with new infections rising in many parts of the country, there are growing concerns that the government's Christmas relaxation will see a further escalation in infections and deaths and put too much pressure on the already-stressed National Health Service.
Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition Labor Party, was one who called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to hold an emergency meeting to review the decision.
"I understand that people want to spend time with their families after this awful year, but the situation has clearly taken a turn for the worse since the decision about Christmas was taken," he said.
Any potential easing over Christmas contrasts with measures being taken by other European nations such as Germany and the Netherlands, which have announced sweeping new restrictions for the holidays.
When the Christmas easing was first announced last month, Johnson was careful to stress that households should be "jolly careful, especially with elderly relatives."
However, that easing announcement was predicated on an assumption that new cases would be on a downward trajectory.
But new infections have been increasing again, with another 18,450 announced on Tuesday. Though down a couple of thousand from Monday's tally, figures over the past few days have been consistently higher than those recorded in the preceding two weeks.
The resurgence has come despite a four-week national lockdown in England that only ended in early December, and other stringent measures taken in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
In light of the rising number of cases, London today will join other major cities in England, including Birmingham and Manchester, in the highest level of restrictions -- Tier 3 -- in which pubs and restaurants are closed apart for takeouts and deliveries. People in Tier 3 areas -- which will soon include a majority of England's population -- are not allowed to meet socially in private or at most outdoor public venues with anybody they do not live with.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan was among those calling for a rethink.
"The concern is this -- the rules have been relaxed for five days, allowing household mixing for up to three different households and inevitably when people are in their own households, they tend to be less vigilant," he told BBC Radio.
Report critical of sweden
Separately, a report released Tuesday by an independent commission in Sweden said the government failed to sufficiently protect the elderly in care homes from covid-19 and is ultimately responsible for the pandemic's effects in the country.
The Scandinavian country has stood out among European and other nations for the way it has handled the pandemic, for long not mandating lockdowns like others but relying instead on citizens' sense of civic duty.
But an independent commission that looked into Sweden's handling of the pandemic said Tuesday that Swedish elderly care has major structural shortcomings and authorities proved unprepared and ill-equipped to meet the pandemic. Nearly half the country's covid-19 deaths have been in care homes.
The head of the commission, Mats Melin, said the blame for structural shortcomings in Sweden's health care system could be placed on several authorities and organizations.
"But we still want to say that the government governs the country and that the ultimate responsibility therefore rests with the government and previous governments," Melin said.
While Swedish authorities reacted to the pandemic by advising people to practice social distancing, most schools, bars and restaurants have been kept open.
Yet, the country of just over 10 million has seen 341,029 confirmed infections and 7,667 virus-related deaths, a death toll much higher than in neighbors Norway, Finland or Denmark.
Despite Sweden having one of the highest per capita covid-19 death rates in the world, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven's government and chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnell have defended the controversial coronavirus strategy as sustainable in the long-term. They have, however, admitted failures in their efforts to protect the elderly and nursing home residents.
Tuesday's commission report said Sweden's Nordic neighbors paid more attention to elderly citizens' care during the pandemic.
"In the other Nordic countries ... care for the elderly seems to have been more in focus in the authorities' early pandemic measures," the report said.
Sweden's strategy had also been expected to spare the country a resurgence of the disease this fall, but earlier on Tuesday Lofven said health officials misjudged the impact of the latest wave of the pandemic.
"I think that most people in the profession didn't see such a wave in front of them, they talked about different clusters," Lofven told the Swedish Aftonbladet newspaper.
Information for this article was contributed by Jan M. Olsen and Jari Tanner of The Associated Press.
