Europe is using longer and tougher lockdowns to combat coronavirus variants. They show signs of work.

The number R is a representation of how quickly the coronavirus or other disease is spreading. If the number is higher than 1, as the Corona virus has been going on for several months in Britain, this means that on average, a person will spread the virus to more than one person and the outbreak is spreading, but on Friday, the British government was good. News: The R number has fallen to between 0.7 and 0.9 this week, and finally below 1 for the first time since July 2020. Outside of Britain, other countries seem to be making similar successes against rapidly spreading variants such as B.1.1.7, the variant was first found Once in Britain, and although the spread of the Corona virus throughout the epidemic has often confused experts, in many cases the most effective form of containment is the longer and more stringent lockdown, and after more than six weeks of severe restrictions in Denmark, Authorities announced this week, infection rates have dropped from exponential growth to essentially flat – indicating an R number of around 0.99 for B.1.1.7 by the first week of February. Schools reopen, although most other restrictions will remain until at least February 28, if not longer. As in Britain and Denmark, the B.1.1.7 variant is thought to be prevalent in Ireland. Likewise, many experts see a strict lockdown as the likely cause of success against it, with schools and construction sites among those schools closed. “The Ireland experience once again shows how easy it is to reduce the number of cases,” said Luke O’Neill, the immunologist at Trinity College Dublin, wrote The Conversation, an academic discussion website. This apparent logic has been present in one way or another since the start of the epidemic, when China took an unprecedented approach at the time to limit the spread – a mysterious virus locked in millions of people for nearly a year, and as cases receded in many countries during the summer, many governments relaxed these restrictions. . But with the number of infections rising again in the fall, many countries imposed a second lockdown. After the increase in the number of cases at the end of 2020, as well as the emergence of more transmissible variables, governments have chosen not only another lockdown, but more stringent and longer measures than before, and these measures now appear to be working, despite the exact nature of the difficult to measure Success, Brazil, another country that is home to another rapidly spreading variable but without a national lockdown, has not seen a significant drop in new cases in recent weeks, but in the United States, where restrictions are regional at best patchy, and new cases have generally decreased not from It is clear if these differences are due to the relatively low levels of the variables or anything else. Vaccination may soon play a role, although both Denmark and Ireland are far behind Britain and the United States in the number of doses given to her, Merkel said, “We have great uncertainty about the boom,” justifying new, tougher requirements for reopening the door. With the lockdowns causing significant personal and economic losses, governments will have to think when to ease them. In the past, they have been criticized for ending restrictions too soon, and in Britain, an announcement is expected before the end of the month of how long the lockdown will last. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he intends to reopen schools in March, although some restrictions are expected to last for months. In Denmark, some policymakers expect restrictions to be extended beyond the February 28 deadline. The nation’s public health agency, the state serum institute, said of the low R number in a statement this week: “It is too early to assess whether there is a stable trend.” Although there is pressure to reopen the site in Ireland, O’Neill, the immunologist, warned that the sudden spike in cases after Christmas showed that even a limited amount of social interaction could allow the virus to “flare up again”. “Ireland must keep up with public health measures for the foreseeable future,” Neal wrote. “This virus will take advantage of any weakness, and the task now is to learn from mistakes and move to the next stage, with what has become the slogan of these times: cautious optimism.”