{"id":1059264,"date":"2021-11-27T10:13:46","date_gmt":"2021-11-27T15:13:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1059264"},"modified":"2021-11-27T10:13:49","modified_gmt":"2021-11-27T15:13:49","slug":"uk-chief-medical-officer-thinks-britons-would-accept-new-corona-restrictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/uk-chief-medical-officer-thinks-britons-would-accept-new-corona-restrictions\/","title":{"rendered":"UK Chief Medical Officer Thinks Britons Would Accept New Corona Restrictions"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fuk-chief-medical-officer-thinks-britons-would-accept-new-corona-restrictions%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1059264&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/lockdown-protest-640x335-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">England\u2019s Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty has suggested that Britons would accept fresh restrictions, after 20 months of on-and-off lockdowns and social distancing.<\/p>\n<p>Professor Whitty made the comment during a discussion hosted by the Local Government Association in relation to the announcement of a new strain of the Chinese coronavirus, which prompted the British government to announce on Friday a quarantine of travellers from<a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/europe\/2021\/11\/26\/uk-bans-flights-six-african-countries-new-covid-strain-detected\/\"> six southern African countries<\/a> including South Africa.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>The chief medical officer told the panel in comments <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-59434196\">reported<\/a> by the BBC that his \u201cgreatest worry\u201d was whether people would accept another series of restrictions, after being subjected to several forms of measures in nearly two years, with England\u2019s latest round of restrictions that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/europe\/2021\/01\/04\/lockdown-forever-boris-announces-state-shutdown-no-firm-end-date\/\">started<\/a> in January only being <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/europe\/2021\/07\/14\/freedom-day-mandatory-vaccines-for-carers-khans-mask-mandate-and-vax-passports\/\">lifted<\/a> in July, with some rules, locally and nationally, still in place.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy greatest worry at the moment is that people\u2026 if we need to do something more muscular at some point, whether it\u2019s for the current new variant or at some later stage, can we still take people with us?\u201d Prof Whitty said.<\/p>\n<p>The medical chief admitted that some of the measures had been \u201cvery destructive to social and economic situations for individuals and families,\u201d and said:&nbsp;\u201cObviously, we want to avoid having to do those at all if we can, and to do the minimum ones necessary, but will we be able to maintain public support?\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>Answering his own question, Whitty said: \u201cAnd I think my overall view is, I think we will,\u201d before <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.co.uk\/article\/public-will-not-comply-with-any-more-covid-restrictions-professor-chris-whitty-fears-bq50rct5k\">continuing<\/a> that he believed Britons would once again fall in line \u201cprovided we\u2019re clear to people what the logic is and provided they feel that we\u2019re being entirely straight with them as to all the data and the knowns and the unknowns.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the extraordinary thing has been the ability of the UK population, with very, very small exceptions, to just accept that there are things we collectively have to do to protect one another and do collectively, including things that have been very destructive to social and economic situations for individuals and families,\u201d he said, quoting recent polls that show Britons apparently in fervent support for fresh restrictions if needed.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" readability=\"8.9047619047619\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Mass demonstrations erupted across Europe on Saturday with anti-lockdown protests being staged in Vienna, Rome, and The Netherlands. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/gyqNiesWQ3\">https:\/\/t.co\/gyqNiesWQ3<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BreitbartNews\/status\/1462456379621494793?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 21, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>One YouGov poll from late October saw respondents <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/YouGov\/status\/1451830429951086592?s=20\">back<\/a> in strong majorities the return of compulsory masks on public transports and in shops, working from home, and even vaccine passports for large events.<\/p>\n<p>Other polls in the past near-two years have seen Britons&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/europe\/2021\/09\/20\/fearful-london-falls-soar-as-people-scared-of-catching-covid-from-handrails\/\">largely fearful<\/a>&nbsp;of coronavirus and&nbsp;<a class=\"x5l\" href=\"http:\/\/breitbart.com\/europe\/2020\/09\/10\/coronavirus-project-fear-results-majority-britons-back-curfew\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">supportive<\/a>&nbsp;of restrictions and even backing&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/europe\/2021\/01\/12\/more-police-state-please-plurality-brits-think-covid-cops-arent-strict-enough\/\">stricter<\/a>&nbsp;punishments for COVID rule-breakers.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>Earlier on in the pandemic, however, Britons were not so frightened of the virus, with a YouGov poll from mid-March, 2020,&nbsp;<a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/yougov.co.uk\/topics\/health\/articles-reports\/2020\/03\/13\/most-britons-still-arent-scared-about-contacting-c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">finding<\/a>&nbsp;most were largely unconcerned about COVID-19. This lack of fear proved an issue, according to the&nbsp;behavioural science sub-group of the influential&nbsp;Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), which <a href=\"https:\/\/assets.publishing.service.gov.uk\/government\/uploads\/system\/uploads\/attachment_data\/file\/887467\/25-options-for-increasing-adherence-to-social-distancing-measures-22032020.pdf\">suggested<\/a> in a March 23rd, 2020, paper that the government use emotional messaging to increase citizens\u2019 personal fear and thus their adherence to government measures.<\/p>\n<p>The Scientific Pandemic Insights Group on Behaviours (SPI-B)&nbsp;<a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/options-for-increasing-adherence-to-social-distancing-measures-22-march-2020\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">paper<\/a>&nbsp;entitled \u201cOptions for increasing adherence to social distancing measures\u201d noted&nbsp;that \u201ca&nbsp;substantial number of people still do not feel sufficiently personally threatened\u201d by the Chinese virus.<\/p>\n<p>Under a section&nbsp;entitled \u201cPersuasion\u201d, the authors wrote: \u201cThe&nbsp;perceived level of personal threat needs to be increased among those who are complacent, using hard-hitting emotional messaging. To be effective this must also empower people by making clear the actions they can take to reduce the threat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Britain has ploughed on with what the Associated Press <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/coronavirus-pandemic-health-europe-pandemics-london-4fa04d054e96b69c4df26faaa4280124\">described<\/a> as its \u201cnew, more constrained normal\u201d, the rest of Europe has been thrown into <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/europe\/2021\/11\/23\/lockdown-rules-spread-in-europe-in-wake-of-hard-austrian-restrictions\/\">lockdowns<\/a> and greater restrictions, including in&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/europe\/2021\/11\/22\/austrian-government-warns-of-radicalisation-after-weekend-of-lockdown-protests\/\">Austria<\/a>, which will introduce <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/europe\/2021\/11\/19\/austria-unvaccinated-could-face-prison-as-country-locks-down-and-announces-vaccine-mandate\/\">mandatory vaccination<\/a> for all residents from February. As a result, last weekend saw the continent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/europe\/2021\/11\/21\/watch-europe-erupts-in-protest-against-lockdowns-vax-mandates\/\">erupt into protest<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Whitty, however, admitted on Friday that politicians needed to continue to take a \u201ctemperature check\u201d of the national mood, suggesting he feared the risk of public rebellion, saying: \u201cIf the decision of that society is \u2018no, actually that isn\u2019t where the majority are\u2019, then we need to recognise that and reflect that in what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" readability=\"6.8313253012048\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Austrian Government Warns of \u2018Radicalisation\u2019 After Weekend of Lockdown Protests <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/vYXZe51fiP\">https:\/\/t.co\/vYXZe51fiP<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BreitbartLondon\/status\/1463120433759330308?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 23, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>England\u2019s Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty has suggested that Britons would accept fresh restrictions, after 20 months of on-and-off lockdowns and social distancing. Professor Whitty made the comment during &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1059264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1059264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1059264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1059264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1059264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1059264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1059264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}