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The coronavirus must be taken very seriously again or the UK will face “a bumpy ride in the coming months,” a deputy chief medical officer warned after a “big change” in infections.
Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said that the public had “relaxed too much” over the summer and described the growing number of cases as “of great concern”.
England’s deputy chief medical officer issued the warning as Caerphilly in South Wales was preparing to be put under local lockdown and stricter measures were being extended in Scotland.
There were a further 2,948 laboratory-confirmed coronavirus cases in the UK as of yesterday morning, following the 2,988 reported on Sunday, which was the largest daily figure since May.
In an interview with journalists, Professor Van-Tam said: “This is a big change. Now it is constant for two days and it is a great concern at the moment.”
“We’ve been able to relax a bit over the summer, sickness levels have been quite low in the UK over the summer, but these latest figures really show us that people would like to say ‘well it’s gone’ – this is not it has disappeared.
“And if we’re not careful, if we don’t take this incredibly seriously from now on, we’re going to have a bumpy ride for the next several months.”
He said the increase is “much more marked” in the 17-21 age group, but noted that there is a “more general and progressive geographical trend” across the UK.
“People have become too relaxed,” said Professor Van-Tam. “Now is the time to re-engage and realize that this is an ongoing threat to us.”
He urged politicians and public health officials to think about how to handle the crisis not in the short term but for “the next six months and how we get through it until spring.”
The professor added that it was “clear” that the level of compliance with the restrictions “is highly variable.”
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Health Secretary Matt Hancock welcomed the “important advice” as he previously described the recent surge in cases as “worrisome” as he tried to remind young people of the dangers of the situation.
“Don’t kill your grandmother by spreading the coronavirus and then passing it on,” he told the BBC’s Newsbeat program.
Professor John Edmunds, who is part of the government’s Emergency Scientific Advisory Group, warned that cases were “increasing exponentially.”
He said the UK has entered “a period of risk” with the average number of people to whom an infected individual transmits the virus, known as the breeding number, potentially above the crucial figure of one.
“He didn’t want us to relax the measures so much that we couldn’t safely open schools without the reproduction number dropping significantly above one. And we are already above one and have opened schools,” he told ITV News.
As the UK continued to try to quell regional outbreaks, people were told they could not enter or leave Caerphilly without a reasonable excuse when further restrictions would be imposed at 6pm today.
Gatherings with other people inside will be banned and everyone over the age of 11 will be required to wear masks in shops, the first time the measure has been made mandatory in Wales.
The district of South Wales has seen 133 new cases of Covid-19 in the last seven days, which equates to a rate of 55.4 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, which gives it one of the highest rates in the United Kingdom .
Meanwhile, restrictions on home visiting in western parts of Scotland were extended for a further week and extended to include East Dunbartonshire and Renfrewshire as well.
The developments came when the total number of confirmed cases in the UK surpassed 350,100.
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