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The UK is facing a “bumpy ride for the next few months” and a second wave of coronavirus is “approaching”, leading health experts have warned.
England’s deputy chief medical officer, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, said on Monday an increase in coronavirus Cases across the country have come because people have become “too relaxed.”
He added that the increase in cases is “much more marked” in the 17 to 21 age group, but noted that there is a “more general and progressive geographical trend” across the UK.
Dr. David Nabarro, special envoy of the World Health Organization for the COVID-19 Answer, you said “the virus will return” as “life resumes”.
When asked by Sky News if the country can expect a second wave, he replied: “It’s coming.
“I don’t like to call it a second wave, I’m just saying there will be more spikes and indeed some spikes in cases because the virus hasn’t changed.
“It is the same virus that came in and caused so much trouble earlier this year.
“It’s just been on the prowl, we’ve been very good at containing it by restricting movement and blocking.”
He continued: “Now that life resumes, young people are going to university, there is also some movement with holidays and, of course, work; so I am afraid that means that the virus will return.”
The weekly rate of new COVID-19 cases in the UK has risen above 20 per 100,000 people, the rate at which it considers imposing quarantine measures on people arriving from abroad.
In the seven days to September 7, there were 21.3 cases per 100,000 and a total of 14,227.
There were 13.9 per 100,000 in the seven days through Aug. 31, for a total of 9,259.
There were an additional 2,948 laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the UK at 9am Monday, following the 2,988 reported on Sunday, which was the largest daily figure since May.
Professor Van-Tam said the latest coronavirus figures were “of great concern”, adding: “This is a virus that we will have to live with, and if we are not careful, if we are not taking it incredibly seriously.” From this point on, we are going to have a bumpy ride for the next several months. “
When asked what is behind the increase in cases, he replied: “People have become too relaxed.”
He added: “Now is the time to re-engage and realize that this is an ongoing threat to us.”
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.
The warnings from health experts come as
- The total number of confirmed cases in the UK exceeded 350,100
- The seven-day rate of new cases in the UK has risen to 21.3 per 100,000 people, just above the threshold of 20 cases per 100,000 that the government considers imposing quarantine conditions on people traveling to the UK. Kingdom, if they are registered in other countries.
- Train services in England and Wales were increased to about 90% of pre-pandemic levels on Monday, and operators told travelers they can “travel with confidence.”
- Several schools have reported confirmed cases of coronavirus, including three in Middlesbrough and one in Suffolk.
- The government testing website said at 11 p.m. Monday that no more home test kits were available that day.
Professor Van-Tam has urged politicians and public health officials to think about how to handle the crisis, not in the short term, but through “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.”
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.
He told BBC Radio 1’s Newsbeat: “Don’t kill your grandmother by spreading coronavirus and then broadcasting it.”
Members of the public are seen driving towards a testing center in Glasgow
It comes as Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick told Sky News that there appears to be an increase in the number of cases among young people.
He continued: “Those people … who are having fun, who might go to college this month, they need to exercise a certain degree of caution.
And especially when they go home and see their elderly relatives.
“It doesn’t mean that they can’t go meet with them, it doesn’t mean that we are in the kind of restrictions that we had earlier this year.
“But I think it does mean exercising that extra degree of common sense this fall.”
Professor John Edmunds, who is part of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), 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 told ITV News: “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.”
