In response to rising concerns about the virus, a survey finds that over 40% of Britons have donned a face mask and that 3 out of 10 have stayed at home over the past month.
The UK is currently experiencing a mild fifth wave, which has seen infections rise over the past month.
In the most recent week, 2.7 million people were found to be carrying Covid, despite the fact that deaths and ICU admissions have remained flat.
According to an exclusive poll conducted by MailOnline, 42% of respondents have covered their faces while 29% have stayed indoors at some point since cases began to rise.
Two-thirds (67%) of respondents said they had sanitized their hands, while nearly half (49%) observed social distance rules that have not been in effect since February.
The Redfield & Wilton Strategies survey of 1,500 Britons found that only 16% of people, or roughly one in six, had not taken any precautions in the previous month.
MailOnline has learned in confidence from sources at NHS England that the latest wave is anticipated to naturally dissipate in the coming weeks without the need for onerous public health measures.
The most recent wave may be plateauing, according to MailOnline’s analysis of official data, which also shows a slowdown in Covid hospital admissions and cases.
That hasn’t stopped some hospitals, GP offices, care facilities, and schools from reintroducing face masks and social seclusion in recent weeks, though.
Additionally, a growing number of people in shops, supermarkets, and on public transportation in Britain’s towns and cities appear to be hiding their faces.
Retail executives have expressed concern over Britain’s emergence as a nation of hypochondriacs.
Luke Johnson, a seasoned businessman and the CEO of Gail’s bakery, said to MailOnline: ‘Recent research indicates that Covid is no longer more deadly than influenza, in part due to vaccinations and acquired immunity.
“Society has learned to live with the flu; we have never conducted widespread tests or shut down.” Covid must receive the same treatment.
“We must put an end to the irrational fear and deal with the disease proportionately.”
Most people who test positive for Covid are asymptomatic or exhibit cold-like symptoms.
Society needs to stop testing, put Covid in the past, and regain its ambition unless it wants to turn into a nation of hypochondriacs and live in poverty.
The Omicron sub-strains BA.4 and BA.5, the latter of which is thought to be the virus’ most contagious variation yet, are what are causing Britain’s fifth wave.
With nearly 2,000 people being admitted to hospitals every day with the virus, they have caused daily Covid hospital admissions to increase to a nearly 18-month high.
But despite cases increasing for weeks, BA.4 and BA.5 are both as mild as their parent strain, which has caused a steady level of ICU admissions and deaths.
Milder variations, vaccines, and rising natural immunity have been blamed for the flattening of deaths and ICU rates despite the rise in cases, which served as a barometer for social restrictions in the past.
As part of “Freedom Day” and the government’s living with the COVID-19 plan, which made masks illegal again, millions of Britons gave them the boot in April.
Even though they were only removed from official NHS guidance last month, some trusts have already begun reimposing them.
The Exeter-based Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust began providing disposable face masks and antiviral hand gel to all visitors last week.
According to Dr. David Strain, an honorary consultant in medicine for older adults at the Trust, “We moved back to mandatory face masks for all,” and he believes that this was a wise decision.
“The goal is to safeguard patients who are at risk at a time when one in twenty members of the general public has Covid.”
In the past, Sadiq Khan has been a vocal supporter of mask use.
The Mayor of London’s official website still urges residents of the city to cover their faces “in crowded or enclosed spaces where the virus can spread more easily, including on TfL services where face coverings are strongly recommended” (emphasis added).
Omicron sub-variants, which are thought to be even more contagious than the BA.2 strain that sent the number of cases in the UK to a record 4.1 million in April, are fuelling an increase in infection rates not just in the UK but also across Europe.
As a result, governments are reviewing the recommendations for face masks.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has warned that face masks “will play a bigger role” in Germany in the coming months.
In Australia, Dr. Kerry Chant, New South Wales Chief Health Officer, last week urged residents to put on a mask when they can’t socially distance themselves.
Brigitte Bourguignon, a former French minister of health, recently said that wearing a mask in crowded places, such as on public transportation, at work, and in shops, is a “civic
In the meantime, the Cypriot government declared that face masks must be worn indoors at all times.
Gold-standard scientific evidence, or randomised controlled trials, is still scarce despite the fact that billions of people wear masks to reduce Covid transmission.
Instead, observational studies that examine samples of people without interfering with or otherwise influencing them provide the majority of the evidence.
These investigations have shown that using a mask has advantages.
Wearing masks, for instance, was found to reduce the incidence of Covid-19 by 53%, according to a review of public health measures published by the BMJ in October 2021 that examined 72 observational studies with almost 400,000 participants.