Why does the UK have highest Covid case rate in western Europe?
Coronavirus deaths have fallen in the region’s ‘Covid capital’ - but Britain may be facing tough winter
![England lockdown lifted](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/fckoRB8LzqTMYqYNxYiv6T-415-80.jpg)
The UK now has the highest rate of coronavirus cases in western Europe, with 40,00 new positive tests reported yesterday alone.
“With the news dominated by other issues, it has gone almost unnoticed,” said BBC health correspondent Nick Triggle, but the “rates certainly look troubling”.
Only a “handful” of countries on the continent have higher infection levels than the UK and they are all based in eastern Europe, he wrote. “Compared with the big nations in western Europe, the numbers are significantly higher.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
![https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516-320-80.jpg)
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
One reason may be that England unlocked much earlier than other nations. “So it is hardly surprising a virus that thrives on human contact has taken off in the UK compared with the rest of Europe,” said Triggle.
And while countries such as Germany, France and Spain have “pursued a ‘vaccine plus’ strategy, England has opted for a ‘vaccine just’ strategy”, said Christina Pagel, director of UCL’s Clinical Operational Research Unit, and Martin McKee, professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
In an article for The Guardian last week, the pair explained that both strategies involve vaccinating as many people as possible. But while England has relied on the jabs rollout alone, other countries have also focused on other measures to stop the spread, such as face masks and vaccine passports.
“Measured by death rates, the situation is not quite as bad,” wrote Pagel and McKee. Countries with weaker health systems and low vaccination uptake among the vulnerable have particularly high death rates, but most such nations are in eastern Europe.
England “is still doing much worse in terms of Covid deaths than our western European and Nordic neighbours” though, the two academics said. The UK’s current death rate is more than twice as high as those of Germany and France.
Although case rates are “not directly comparable, it is clear that the UK is an outlier in western Europe”, said The Times’ science editor Tom Whipple.
A newly released joint report from the Commons science and health committees partly blamed “British exceptionalism” for public health failures in the UK’s response to the pandemic last year - a pattern also noted by others.
Simon Clarke, professor of cellular microbiology at the University of Reading, told Whipple that “the UK has firmly committed itself to ‘running hot’ when managing its Covid spread. Mitigations which might have had an effect have been firmly rejected and people are largely behaving as though the pandemic is entirely behind us.”
Downing Street and senior government advisers have repeatedly explained their reasoning: that the virus will be around “forever” and that as a society, we have to learn to live with it.
The fact that Britain has kept deaths down despite the sharp rise in cases is “testament to the success of the Covid-19 vaccination programme”, said City A.M. But the country “lags behind its neighbours when it comes to hospital beds”, added the paper, so “the Covid capital of Europe” could still face a tough winter if cases don’t fall.
The BBC’s Triggle agreed that the NHS “has, compared with other nations, much less capacity to absorb extra demand”.
Experts hope that the combination of natural immunity and vaccination will lead to a sustained fall in infections as winter approaches, he said. But “it will not take much for the situation to unravel”.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Red Speedo: a 'darkly comic' doping drama
The Week Recommends Lucas Hnath's play stars Finn Cole as a 'reptilian' swimmer determined to win at all costs
By Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK Published
-
One Aldwych: where London's creative spirit takes centre stage
The Week Recommends This five-star Covent Garden hotel is the epitome of elegant independence
By Julia O'Driscoll, The Week UK Published
-
Charlotte Dujardin and equestrianism's dark side
In the Spotlight Olympic gold medallist and dressage star's suspension over horse whipping brings abuse in horse sports back into the spotlight
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Brexit, Matt Hancock and black swans: five takeaways from Covid inquiry report
The Explainer UK was 'unprepared' for pandemic and government 'failed' citizens with flawed response, says damning report
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Should masks be here to stay?
Talking Points New York Governor Kathy Hochul proposed a mask ban. Here's why she wants one — and why it may not make sense.
By Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, The Week US Published
-
Covid might be to blame for an uptick in rare cancers
The explainer The virus may be making us more susceptible to certain cancers
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Long Covid and chronic pain: is it all in the mind?
The Explainer 'Retraining the brain' could offer a solution for some long Covid sufferers
By The Week UK Published
-
Infected blood scandal: will justice be served?
Today's Big Question Government apologises for 'decades-long moral failure' and promises £10bn compensation but true accountability may take far longer
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Covid four years on: have we got over the pandemic?
Today's Big Question Brits suffering from both lockdown nostalgia and collective trauma that refuses to go away
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
How happy is Finland really?
Today's Big Question Nordic nation tops global happiness survey for seventh year in a row with 'focus on contentment over joy'
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
The hollow classroom
Opinion Remote school let kids down. It will take much more than extra tutoring for kids to recover.
By Mark Gimein Published