Debacle over No 10 Christmas party ‘threatens efforts to control pandemic’

The Guardian says The debacle over the No 10 Christmas party threatens to undermine efforts to control the Covid pandemic at a time when the Omicron variant is fuelling fears of an imminent and major wave of disease, say scientists.

A so-called Cummings effect last year led to “negative and lasting consequences” on public trust following the lockdown-busting trips made by Boris Johnson’s aide, Dominic Cummings, researchers found.

Another apparent breach of Covid guidelines at Downing Street last December, and footage of Johnson’s aides joking about a party, risk deepening mistrust in ministers and exacerbating a sense of “us and them” just as the country faces further plan B restrictions to combat the virus, experts warned.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/09/debacle-over-no-10-christmas-party-threatens-efforts-to-control-pandemic