Obesity levels and COVID-19: the Government's mission

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has launched a series of policy initiatives as part of the Government's new obesity strategy. The strategy aims to improve the health of the nation and offer greater protection against the impact of COVID-19 and, in addition, to protect the NHS from being overwhelmed should a second wave of the virus threaten society.

Few readers would have imagined the utter carnage and chaos that would follow in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic as it swept across Europe in the early months of 2020. In a television broadcast on Monday 23 March 2020, Johnson announced that, apart from key workers, UK citizens must stay at home, apart from brief periods for exercise and shopping for essentials, and that many businesses would have to suspend activities.

This start of the nation's lockdown was accompanied by nightly government public awareness broadcasts. At first there was a public swell of war-time spirt of pulling together against adversity, with the Prime Minister playing a similar role to that of Winston Churchill during the Blitz in the Second World War. On Friday 27 March, however, it was revealed that Johnson had tested positive for COVID-19 and that he had placed himself in self-isolation (Guardian, 2020). Public fear of the power and infectivity of this novel virus was exacerbated when it was further revealed that the Chief Medical Officer, Chris Whitty, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock, and Prince Charles were all having to self-isolate after developing symptoms of COVID-19. The country was facing an alarming public health crisis with several of its public figures in quarantine.