Please tread on us!: Majority of Brits want even harder lockdown measures, according to poll

As anti-lockdown protests raged in London, a new poll revealed that 63 percent of Brits think Covid-19 measures don't go far enough. However, even some government advisors are urging the Prime Minister to ease restrictions.

Demonstrators descended on London on Saturday, for the second straight weekend of anti-lockdown protests. Outraged at their government’s coronavirus restrictions, several thousand packed into Trafalgar Square to show their disapproval. However, the UK’s Telegraph newspaper published a new poll at the same time, which told a different story.

While the protesters demanded a return to normality, 63 percent of the 2,000 Britons surveyed said that the government’s new lockdown measures — announced last week — hadn’t gone far enough. According to the survey, 51 percent favor an instant shutdown of gyms and beauty salons to slow the spread of Covid-19.

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Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a raft of new restrictions on Tuesday, including a 10pm closing time for bars, restaurants and other hospitality venues, further restrictions on gathering sizes and mask requirements, all enforced by the police. Johnson claimed that the restrictions were necessary, as the UK had reached a “perilous turning point” in the fight against the deadly virus. 

Despite the demonstrations in London, another poll, this one by YouGov, found last week that 78 percent of Brits support Johnson’s new restrictions, with 45 percent saying they don’t go far enough. 

However, the protesters in Trafalgar Square aren’t the only people speaking out against the lockdown. A study published in the Heart medical journal on Friday and presented to the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) predicted that Johnson’s lockdowns would cause 75,000 preventable deaths over the next five years.

The study revealed that 16,000 people died of non-Covid causes in care homes and hospitals in March and April alone, and predicted another 26,000 deaths within a year, if people continue to avoid hospitals. Furthermore, it claimed that 31,900 people could die over the next five years due to missed cancer diagnoses, cancelled operations, and the health impacts of a looming economic recession.

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Days before Johnson unveiled the new restrictions, more than two dozen top UK scholars and scientists penned an open letter to the PM, calling the government’s goal of suppressing the virus until a vaccine arrives “increasingly unfeasible,” and demanding restrictions be lifted for all but the most vulnerable sectors of society.

The coronavirus has killed nearly 42,000 people in the UK and infected 423,000. Though new cases of Covid-19 have surged upwards since August, deaths remain low. 6,874 new cases were reported on Friday, along with 34 deaths.

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