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The UK has suffered its deadliest Saturday during the second wave of Covid after 462 more people were killed, bringing the total deaths to 51,766.
And the grim figures released today show that cases have risen by 26,860, with a total of 1,344,356 now infected by the killer bug.
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By comparison, there were 24,957 new infections last Saturday along with 413 deaths from the disease.
Today is the deadliest Saturday since May 2, when 493 people died.
This comes after infections halved yesterday to 33,470 in a record 24-hour increase.
Experts said the spike in confirmed cases was almost certainly due to a “last hooray” when the British celebrated before the close of November 5.
In the days before the imposition of draconian restrictions, footage showed revelers leaving bars and pubs.
Meanwhile, government scientists said today that the blockade of England should end as planned on December 2.
The British were held last week in a desperate attempt to slow the spread of the deadly respiratory disease.
And there is hope that the strict lockdown has worked, with the R rate, which measures the average number of people a coronavirus patient infects, dropping below 1.
The crucial value is now estimated at 0.9 nationwide according to the Covid Symptom Study app, while Sage’s most recent estimate, released yesterday, is that the R rate is between 1.1 and 1.3.
And the Times reported today that members of the government’s SAGE advisory group believe regional Level 3 restrictions had an impact, reducing daily contact by a third.
Advisers believe a revised tier system after the national shutdown could prevent cases from spiking again, the newspaper reports.
SAGE documents published on Friday that were dated November 4 said that if England reverted to the “same” tier system, transmission would increase again.
John Edmunds, who led the study and works with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: “The tiered system had some impact on reducing contact and especially Level 3 had a very significant impact.
“Level 3 restrictions reduced that by 1.5 contacts per day, which in the context of five daily contacts is a big change.”
Level 1 restrictions that allowed people to gather indoors and in groups of six were thought to be largely useless.
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A Sage expert said today that she was “quite hopeful,” but that the next two weeks would be crucial in fighting Covid and getting the country out of the lockdown.
Professor Susan Michie told BBC Radio 4: “For the next two weeks, everyone has to put in all their determination.”
He added that it would probably be “very challenging”, insisting that “partly because of the weather (and) partly because, I think, the promise of a vaccine can make people feel complacent.”
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CHRISTMAS HOPE
England’s lockdown should end on December 2, but the next fortnight is ‘crucial’, says SAGE
“But it is highly unlikely that the vaccine will reach the end of the year or early next year and that will not make any difference in the current second wave.”
Government scientists have previously warned that the UK has “little or no scope” to relax social distancing rules for Christmas.
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