UK easing COVID-19 testing, monitoring despite case uptick

LONDON (AP) — After dropping nearly all coronavirus restrictions last month, Britain is now ending some of its most widespread COVID-19 testing and monitoring programs, a move some scientists fear will complicate efforts to track the virus and detect worrisome new variants.

Officials have largely dismissed those concerns, despite a recent uptick in cases across Europe, insisting that high immunization rates will help dampen future waves of disease.

Based on how quickly new variants have arisen, some experts suggest the next one could arrive as early as May. They warn that U.K. authorities should be using the time to prepare, rather than winding down their pandemic defenses.

Mark Woolhouse, an epidemiologist at the University of Edinburgh, called it “an unfortunate pattern” that has been seen repeatedly throughout the outbreak.

“Every time one wave of COVID passes, the government acts as if it’s the end of the pandemic,” he said.

Without testing and monitoring, new clusters or signs that the virus is evolving could be missed, Woolhouse said.

“I do not understand why governments are not learning this lesson,” he said.

Last week, the U.K. announced it was suspending funding for one of the world’s biggest and most comprehensive coronavirus monitoring programs, in addition to ditching research that tracks in real time symptoms and infections in health workers. And as of April, free COVID-19 tests for most people in England will also end.

As most COVID-19 restrictions are relaxed across Europe, including Austria, Britain, Denmark, Germany and France, the numbers of infections have inched higher in recent days. The uptick is driven in part by the slightly more infectious omicron descendant BA.2 and by people largely abandoning masks and gathering in bigger groups.

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