UK Health Officials Issue Stern Warning Over Rising Covid-19 Cases

THE UK COULD see 50,000 new Covid-19 cases a day next month if no action is taken, medical director Chris Witty warned on a national broadcast this morning.

The country is currently facing a marked increase in cases.

In a televised briefing today, England’s medical director said the country is facing a “very challenging winter”, with the current trend going “in the wrong direction.”

“The seasons are against us,” he said, as the country heads into winter. Soon, deaths from the virus could increase exponentially if steps are not taken to slow the spread.

He warned that the country must see the crisis as a “six-month problem.”

A further 3,899 laboratory-confirmed coronavirus cases were announced in the UK yesterday, while another 18 people died within 28 days of testing positive, bringing the UK total to 41,777.

Boris Johnson spent the weekend with ministers and senior advisers discussing what actions to take, as the increase in the number of new cases showed no signs of slowing down.

Johnson is expected to hold his own press conference tomorrow.

UK Senior Scientific Advisor Sir Patrick Vallance cautioned that the numbers are increasing and that the increase is not simply due to higher testing rates: “We are in a situation where the numbers are clearly increasing and increasing across the board. age groups “.

“Right now we think the epidemic is doubling roughly every seven days,” he said.

Whitty warned people in the UK to take action to curb the growing number of cases. “If I increase my risk, I increase the risk of everyone around me,” he said.

He said it was not just areas of the UK that were affected, with rates of the virus rising across the country.

“This is not someone else’s problem. This is our whole problem, ”he said.

UK ministers are reportedly divided on how far the new restrictions should go, with Chancellor Rishi Sunak saying he is resisting controls that could further damage the economy.

Starting tomorrow, around 13.5 million people across the UK will face some form of local restrictions.

Vaccine

Vallance said there is a possibility that small amounts of vaccine will be made available to certain groups of people before the end of the year.

He said “good progress” is being made in developing a vaccine, adding: “Many vaccines have now been shown to elicit an immune response of a type that should be protective.”

“We don’t know yet if they will work, but there is growing evidence pointing in the right direction and it is possible that some vaccine will be available before the end of the year in small quantities for certain groups.

“It is much more likely that we will see that vaccines will be available during the first half of next year, again it is not certain but it points in the right direction, which of course gives the possibility of a different approach for this virus.”

With reports from the Press Association