The COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom has often foreshadowed what came later elsewhere. The highly contagious Alpha variant was first detected there, and the country then reported high caseloads of the more-contagious Delta strain before this variant dispersed around the rest of the world. The United Kingdom also saw a wave of infections that seems to have preceded a similar glut now sweeping Western Europe.
Furthermore, England was among the first regions in Western Europe to lift almost all of its COVID-19 restrictions, following one of the world’s fastest vaccine roll-outs. It ended the legal requirements for social distancing and mask use on 19 July, with Wales and Scotland — which set their own public-health policies — lifting most of their restrictions on 7 and 9 August, respectively. Northern Ireland followed on 31 October.
As one of the first countries to trust high vaccine coverage and public responsibility alone to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the United Kingdom has become a control experiment that scientists across the world are studying. “We are watching the increase in cases closely, trying to dissect what is going on and how that might influence our situation right now,” says Rafael Radi, a biochemist and coordinator of Uruguay’s COVID-19 Scientific Advisory Group.
Nature spoke to scientists around the world about what they hope to learn from the UK experience. ...
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