Large increase in coronavirus over the past week uncovered, especially among young people

A massive increase in coronavirus cases, especially among young people, is behind measures to suppress the number of people gathering in England.

Boris Johnson has said the government is taking “decisive steps” to address the surge in coronavirus cases by banning social gatherings of more than six people.

And a look at how the number of cases in England has changed in the last week could reveal the reasons behind the change.

The new rules come after the number of daily positive Covid-19 cases in the UK rose to nearly 3,000, numbers not seen since May, but a closer look at the statistics reveals some worrying trends.

The ministers hope the change to the law will make it easier for the police to identify and disperse illegal gatherings. Failure to comply could result in a £ 100 fine, which will double for each repeated violation up to £ 3,200.

According to government statistics, the average weekly number per 100,000 has soared in the last week with the so-called incidence of cases per 100,000 going from 12.5 to 19.7.

But this increase only tells a small part of the story, and the level of cases among the younger age groups is more than double that of the general population.

For people 17 to 18 years old, there are 48.1 per 100,000, and it increases to 54.5 per 100,000 for people 19 to 21 years old.

This is before the vast majority of universities in England return to face-to-face teaching in the coming weeks.

At the press conference, England’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said: “If you act quickly and decisively when these changes occur, there is a reasonable chance or a good chance of getting rates back under control.”

This trend is also being repeated in the number of people in these age groups who test positive for the virus, where the average in England has risen to 6% from 2.5% a couple of weeks ago.

Those under 30 years of age have a relatively low risk of contracting the virus and only account for 1% of deaths globally.

Currently, the only group not seeing this increase are children under the age of 17.

It was these rising statistics that sent panic through Whitehall, leading to crucial meetings yesterday and the rules changed overnight.

But officials are increasingly concerned that a number of factors, including flu season, colder weather, the return of universities and others, are making it difficult to contain Covid-29, even before this recent surge.

A senior government source said: “This is the time to act.

“We are not in trouble yet, but we are definitely addressing them when it comes to the possibility of this having an impact on the NHS.”

“We expect there to be a difficult period during the next six months unless we make major breakthroughs like a new vaccine.”

It comes after Boris Johnson was questioned by Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer, who said about the flaws in Britain’s coronavirus testing system.

During the Prime Minister’s Questions on the Commons, Sir Keir described the “frankly ridiculous” scenario of a mother living in London trying to secure a Covid-19 test for her four-year-old daughter.

He said the woman was told the closest place for a test was Telford or Inverness, before Swansea was offered as an option.

Sir Keir added: “This is downright ridiculous. Who does the Prime Minister think is responsible for this? ”
Johnson said he took responsibility, but suggested his counterpart was launching an “attack” on NHS Test and Trace.

“It is precisely because of the success of Test and Trace that capacity has increased from 2,000 a month in March to 320,000 a day,” he said.

The Prime Minister said that thanks to the testing system, “we know that unfortunately some people have not followed the guidelines in the way they should and therefore we are seeing an increase in infections.

“That is why today we are taking decisive steps to intensify our social distancing measures – the rule of six that will be familiar to the country – so that we can keep our economy going, that we can keep our schools open and keep this virus out. under control.”