The Times - UK - 04.12.2021

the times | Saturday December 4 2021 15

News

Global cases

264,214,

Global deaths

5,234,

Countries reporting most deaths

US

Brazil

India

Mexico

Russia

Peru

UK

Indonesia

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Most new cases

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

World update

785,

615,

470,

294,

272,

201,

145,

143,

140,

73,

48,

50,

32,

27,

23,

23,

Deaths per million population

Rank Now Jan 31

Data supplied by Johns Hopkins University. US data

fluctuates because of irregular reporting by different

states. Figures as of 6pm yesterday. Sources: UK

government, Our World in Data, selected countries

US

Germany

UK

France

Russia

Poland

Turkey

Netherlands

( 16 )

( 13 )

( 7 )

( 10 )

( 14 )

( 5 )

( 40 )

( 31 )

( 24 )

( 23 )

( 11 )

( 6 )

( 4 )

( 9 )

( 58 )

( 22 )

( 21 )

( 45 )

1 ,23 4

1 ,

1 , 431

1 , 367

1 , 296

1 , 523

797

949

1, 048

1, 057

1, 309

1 , 460

1,

1 ,3 75

501

1 , 156

1 , 194

680

6,

4,

3,

3,

3,

3,

3,

2,

2,

2,

2,

2,

2,

1,

1,

1,

1,

1,

Peru

Bulgaria

Bosnia & H.

N. Macedonia

Hungary

Czech Rep

Georgia

Romania

Brazil

Argentina

US

Italy

UK

Spain

Russia

France

Portugal

Germany

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

12

17

24

26

29

31

32

33

48

opened last night. Pantomime shows have returned across the country for Christmas after being cancelled last year

Bruno Waterfield

A weak culture of individual freedom

and an ingrained sense of duty means

Germans will submit to compulsory

vaccination while others, like the

Dutch, would not, an expert says.

Joost van Loon, a sociologist at the

University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt,

said a crackdown on the unjabbed

would succeed. “In the Netherlands a

mask was seen as an attack on free-

dom,” he said. “In Germany there is

much more a culture of collective

responsibility.”

Germany will prevent unvaccinated

people entering non-essential stores,

bars, restaurants, sports and cultural

venues as well as compulsory jabs for

hospital and social care staff. The move,

which would have been unthinkable a

year ago due to the country’s Nazi past,

is now seen as popular because of the

large numbers of unvaccinated people

in German intensive care units.

News

— but not for another ten days

is not just beneficial to public health.

There is also a degree to which it is

politically expedient. After weeks in

which his government has been hit by

allegations of sleaze, Tory rebellions

and U-turns, coronavirus — once

regarded as Johnson’s vulnerable point

— is now seen in No 10 as safe ground.

There are, however, potential risks.

“The vaccine rollout is good because

the Tories are back on to the NHS

agenda,” a government source said. “It’s

where they need to be. But anything

that comes close to looking like he’s too

lax on restrictions is a problem. You’ve

got a sharper opposition that will not

miss a trick.”

And this is backed up by the polling.

A YouGov survey for The Times this

week finds that while the public by and

large support the government’s hand-

ling of the new variant so far they would

like Johnson to go further.

More than 75 per cent support face

masks in cinemas and other entertain-

ment venues while 73 per cent want

work from home guidance to be rein-

troduced.

Surprisingly 64 per cent back a

return to a mandatory ten-day isolation

period for anyone who has come into

contact with a case of Covid — regard-

less of whether they have been vacci-

nated or not. Tory voters are as likely as

Labour supporters to back these addi-

tional measures.

But even if popular, going further is

politically treacherous for Johnson and

risks further fracturing relations with

the large anti-lockdown contingent

both within the cabinet and his back-

benchers. One former minister said

that when Matt Hancock had been

health secretary he had acted as John-

son’s “lightning conductor”, strongly

advocating tough restrictions while

others such as Rishi Sunak, the chan-

cellor, opposed them.

“He’s not there any more and Sajid

has taken a very different approach,”

they said. “He’s been playing to the right

of the party saying he wants to priori-

tise the economy.

“That could be really critical if the

new variant really takes off. In the past

it was Hancock versus Sunak but who is

going to be arguing that now, especially

now that Gove [who also supported

public health restrictions] is less in-

volved.”

A government source added: “The

great unknowable is if we do have to

consider further restrictions what the

new quad will do.

“For the past two years we’ve all

known how the four go: Hancock was at

the tough end of the spectrum, Sunak

right at the other end. Gove and Boris

were sort of in the middle, Gove closer

to Hancock and Boris a bit more anti-

restriction.

“But we just don’t know what the bal-

ance looks like if they have to consider

new measures. Do we get libertarian

Saj or tough Saj? Does Steve Barclay

[the Cabinet Office minister] think hos-

pitality or the NHS is more important?

We don’t know.”

And even if the vaccines stand up

well to the new Omicron variant tough

choices may still have to be made.

One senior Tory said even if — with

boosters — Omicron reduced vaccine

efficacy from 95 per cent protection to

90 per cent then this could potentially

have a big impact on hospitalisations in

the middle of the critical winter period.

A Downing Street figure put it this

way: “Vaccines are the way out of this

pandemic. We still have that hope at the

moment. But we do need to be very cau-

tious because this virus has surprised us

before.”

And that means a long wait — while

the variant multiplies both in Porton

Down and in the country at large.

IAN FORSYTH/GETTY IMAGES

German sense

of duty helps

jab campaign

Covid is a gift for Johnson

have been admitted to hospital with the

Omicron variant. “It’s never easy to

read Chris,” one minister said. “I can’t

tell if he’s very worried or totally re-

laxed. In truth he’s probably some-

where in between.”

Johnson, an ally said, has decided “we

need to be careful not to over-inter-

pret”.

“That’s why the package of measures

was pretty balanced,” they said. “It’s

tough on borders but it’s more cautious

domestically, it’s not big measures that

are changing people’s lives.”

The government’s response so far

has been relatively limited. Six coun-

tries have been added to the red list

requiring people to go into hotel quar-

antine on their return to the UK, while

all travellers coming into Britain are

required to take a PCR test on day two.

Sage, the government’s scientific

advisers, has suggested that ministers

should go further and implement pre-

departure tests for all those coming to

the UK. It is an approach that has been

supported by Labour’s Yvette Cooper

— one of the first things she did on

being appointed shadow home secre-

tary was to give it her backing.

The government is holding the

measure in reserve — for now — but

ministers have acknowledged that it

may eventually become necessary. “It’s

got to be balanced,” a government

source said. “We’re not saying we

should stop travel, this is a proportion-

ate measure to protect against the

variant while being mindful of the

travel industry.”

Masks are now mandatory on public

transport and in shops, but not in pubs

and restaurants. Instead of telling

people to work from home or reduce

socialising, ministers have urged people

to take personal responsibility.

Yet while Downing Street’s central

approach — that people should be

trusted to decide for themselves —

sounds straightforward, it has led to

chaos. There has been a slew of contra-

dictory messages from ministers and

government scientists over the vexed

subject of Christmas parties.

Harries prompted headlines about

cancelling Christmas parties after she

warned that people should reduce

socialising. She was then directly con-

tradicted by Johnson, only for his own

ministers to make similarly contentious

comments. Sajid Javid, the health

secretary, said people should take

lateral flow tests before going to parties

while Thérèse Coffey, the work and

pensions secretary, caused consterna-

tion in No 10 after she said that people

should not “snog” strangers under the

mistletoe.

Javid himself perfectly — if uninten-

tionally — summed up the mixed

messaging when he said that “people

can snog who they wish” before adding

that people should be cautious, and

finished off by saying: “It’s got nothing

to do with the government who you kiss

or anything like that.”

For No 10, the debate over Christmas

parties is a distraction. Johnson and his

team are determined to use the threat

of the Omicron variant to put the

booster campaign on “steroids”, putting

into action a surge campaign to get

people jabbed.

For Johnson, the booster programme