UK NEWS

Devastating impacts of the lockdown have been known since the beginning of the pandemic says Chris Whitty

25 March, 2021
Oliver Down

Chris Whitty stated yesterday that the devastating impacts of the lockdown have been known since the beginning of the pandemic. Mr Whitty is England’s chief medical officer, and he has said has that the lockdown measures have resulted in alcohol consumption increasing and exercising decreasing. In addition to this, levels of domestic abuse and loneliness have also rocketed over the past 12 months, amongst other things. 

Yesterday Chris Whitty told the Local Government Association’s public health conference that government has known ‘right from the beginning the lockdown was going to have really severe effects on many people’s health’. Whitty went on to say: ‘For some people lockdown has either made no difference or in some cases – if you actually look at the academic literature and surveys – has even improved life, interestingly. But for many people, physical or mental wellbeing have been very badly affected by this. Ranging from increased levels of domestic abuse, loneliness – particularly in older people who felt very much isolated in their areas – physical health, people maybe exercising less, greater amounts of alcohol consumption’. 

Professor Whitty has also warned that coronavirus restrictions would be around for years with government able only to ‘reduce and not eliminate’ those effects. Whitty has said: ‘There will be many people who were close to deprivation who will now have been shoved further into it by the effects of lockdown and all of the things we’ve had to do’. 

Sir Patrick Vallance said at yesterday’s press briefing: ‘Don’t expect that this is going to disappear. Expect that there will be recurrences of infections particularly in winter and this will become a circulating virus as others have done over thousands of years’.

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