A warning has been raised by UK scientists that key scientific lessons learned during the Covid-19 pandemic are being forgotten, as the fifth anniversary of the introduction of lockdown is marked. The lockdown was announced by then prime minister Boris Johnson on 23 March 2020, in an effort to prevent NHS hospitals from being overwhelmed by a surge of seriously ill Covid patients. However, scientists have stated that the health service would not be better prepared should another lethal virus appear in the near future, and that there is no evidence that the country has understood the psychological impact of lockdowns.
Prof Rowland Kao of Edinburgh University highlighted that hospitals were already operating at near capacity before the arrival of Covid, and that the NHS was not in a position to handle any further strain. He believes that the situation is likely to be worse next time. Dominic Abrams, professor of social psychology at Kent University, also stated that while lockdowns may have been moderately effective in reducing infection, they underestimated the need for connection, contact, and community. According to him, the social and psychological scars from lockdowns remain extensive and deep.
Additionally, there was no subsequent attempt to understand the usefulness and importance of measures such as social distancing, mask-wearing, and the use of lateral flow tests, according to Prof Paul Hunter of the University of East Anglia. He highlighted that while non-pharmaceutical interventions do reduce transmission, whether the benefits outweigh the harms is still not clear.
The international implications of lockdowns were also emphasized by Andrew Shepherd, director of the Chronic Poverty Advisory Network, who stressed that lockdowns are not suitable for every country. Richer nations pressured low-income and middle-income countries to introduce lockdowns, resulting in disastrous consequences, including massive impoverishment that will take years to recover from.
Dr Michael Head of the University of Southampton acknowledged that lockdowns are a vital component of any pandemic response but said that smarter lockdowns are needed that are implemented earlier in the outbreak to better reduce transmission and therefore shorter in length.
The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK group, which consists of nearly 10,000 people who lost loved ones to the pandemic, has written to the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, urging her not to go ahead with her proposed plan to cut disability payments. They argue that rampant inequality contributed to the UK’s high Covid death toll and that disabled people were 11 times more likely to die from Covid-19 than non-disabled people. Instead of addressing these inequalities, the government is pushing ahead with plans to slash disability benefits, which they believe will drive more people into poverty and make the country less prepared for future pandemics.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/23/key-lessons-of-covid-are-being-forgotten-uk-scientists-warn
