COVID Situation In The UK

COVID-19 has caused a social, economic disruption that the world is still trying to fathom. The virus has plunged the world into a crisis like no other. While the world was trying to treat this pandemic as the new normal, the new variant has shell shocked everyone yet again. Let’s have a look at the sort of impact it has created over the masses and economy.

Impact Over The Masses 

While the world was certain that they would experience a Christmas miracle, the deadly virus took this miraculous festival away from the masses in no time. COVID- 19 has made the UK sacrifice Christmas due to the heightened concern of the new strain spreading rapidly. This is where the people are expected to celebrate in “Christmas Bubbles” wherein people can only be in and around their household. The virus has certainly changed the whole scenario by reducing this brightly lit season to a bleak festival. The country that had relaxed rules in the initial stages unlike most countries has to now face the music.

The initial plans of the restrictions were based on personal decisions, but since the virus has proved to be smarter than before, it left no choice for Britain to be guided by science over emotions. Since the impact of the vaccine on this new strain is believed to not work, it has caused great concern. 

With the UK going into tier 4, Europe has decided to put the country into isolation. In fact, several other countries, including India are closing their borders due to the new strain. Since COVID is set out to disrupt the most loved festival, there will be a severe impact on mental health, giving rise to loneliness especially among the older generation. Not only the older generation, but COVID also has shell-shocked millennials to an extent where they will be considered as the lost generation. With the country and it’s people being sent into isolation, they are being urged to reach out to each other during these difficult times while staying safely apart.

Although detecting the accurate number of daily cases is limited, the rise in the cases has doubled. While we thought that the death cases were the highest in the initial stages, it has increased to a greater extent.

COVID has been detected to shapeshifting ever since we successfully came out with the vaccine. The cases spiked to 1,108 cases with the new variant. Well, now you must be wondering how is it going to be any different than before? The most feared “mutations” are likely to make the infection more transmissible. While it still isn’t certain the impact the new strain has, they are still on the hunt to find out whether the mutations are resulting in the increased transmission. However, testing the effect doesn’t come in a day, since it’s bound to take considerable time and effort, the streets of the UK are expected to be empty this time of the year.

Impact Over The Economy 

Uk was one of the worst-hit economies initially over the three-month period. The country underwent the darkest period financially where some of the sectors were worse hit where the unemployment rate was also expected to increase by 10%. While the restrictions were eventually relaxed and the country was finally getting back on track, the new strain is expected to disrupt the chain yet again. 

Since Britain was hopeful of the vaccine being effective and their economy bouncing back to normal in 2021, the new strain will impact the economy again. The tighter restrictions will, unfortunately, lead to slower growth and higher public borrowing. 

COVID has severely hit the economy worldwide, but the scenario of Britain is quite different considering the immediate shutdown of business and shops during Christmas. The investors are bracing themselves for another slump in the global markets. Some experts are in the view that investors will be able to sail through this hurdle yet again. With several markets expected to hit the ground, the government has decided to take measures to keep the economy from falling apart.

With the world going back and forth in terms of economy, countries have been able to grapple during this situation so far. Although nobody in history would have ever thought of a festival getting canceled, people in the UK are viewing this whole situation optimistically. The masses are ready to forgo this festival, yet keeping a festive spark in order to protect their loved ones.