After a month of lockdown, many countries such as Spain and Italy are starting to ease restrictions put in place to stop the spread of COVID-19. In the past few weeks, many people in the USA have gathered to protest against lockdown, saying it goes against the US Constitution. Following this, Texas will be the first state to reopen from lockdown.
This week, the Prime Minister Boris Johnson returned to work after recovering from COVID-19. In his speech he made it clear that there are no plans to ease the lockdown in the coming weeks as the UK is in a "Moment of maximum risk" and ending it too soon will result in a second spike in cases and more deaths.
But does lockdown work? Sweden is the only European to have no lockdown at all, Schools, businesses and restaurants have remained open across Sweden, and yet has a lower rate of death than the UK. more than 80% of Swedes believe their country has taken the right approach and measures have been taken to implement social distancing in daily life. Some believe more people getting the virus is a positive as more people become immune, however the Swedish government have said that herd immunity is not the plan, and they "want as few people to get infected as possible". Although the Swedish government have been criticised around the world for not taking coronavirus seriously, more than 80% of Swedes believe their country has taken the right approach and measures have been taken to implement social distancing in daily life. There has been a 75% decrease in road traffic and many people are choosing to self isolate. So far Sweden's approach to COVID-19 has been a success, so should lockdown be a choice or should it be enforced by government?
