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Leading UK scientists have proposed a two-week nationwide shutdown in October to halt the recent surge in coronavirus cases, according to a newspaper report.
A second lockdown would coincide with the October semester to create minimal disruption to schools, experts from the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) and the Scientific Group on Pandemic Influenza on Modeling (Spi-m) have proposed.
A SAGE scientist said that if the R number continues at the same rate, “it would break the NHS,” reports the Financial Times.
In response to the report, Labor Party shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: “The Labor Party warned months ago that unless the government spent the summer fixing the testing regime, we would face a bleak winter.
“The government ignored that advice, the testing regime is collapsing, so it is not surprising that national restrictions are back on the table.
“The incompetence of the Conservatives is holding Britain back and hurting the national effort to stop the spread of this virus.”
Coronavirus cases have doubled every seven to eight days in England, according to a study by Imperial College London and Ipsos Mori.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the Commons Thursday that the increase in cases is “worrisome,” while new local restrictions are being introduced in Northeast England, and Lancashire New measures are also expected to be implemented.
The government has discarded suggestions of a second national lockdown, with Boris Johnson saying it would be “disastrous” for the economy, but it appears he may be under increasing pressure from scientists.
A former director of the World Health Organization (WHO) claimed on Wednesday that England’s chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, was recommending a two-week national lockdown.
Anthony Costello, former WHO director of maternal, child and adolescent health, wrote on Twitter: “I heard from a well-connected person that the government now thinks that in the absence of evidence there are 38,000 infections a day. Chris Whitty is counseling the first minister for a two-week national blockade. “
But then he corrected himself, saying that another informant had told him that Professor Whitty did not support a lockdown.
Edward Argar, Minister of the Department of Health and Welfare, told Sky News’s Kay Burley: “We are guided by science, but not necessarily by speculation in the press.
“It’s not something I’ve heard from Chris. And it’s something the prime minister clearly doesn’t want to see.”
The prime minister himself dismissed the prospect of a second national blockade, telling senior deputies in the Commons on Wednesday: “We are going to do everything in our power to prevent it.
“Can we afford it? I highly doubt that the financial consequences are not disastrous.”
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New restrictions came into effect this week prohibiting people from gathering in groups of more than six in England, a measure designed to reduce infections.
But hospitals and councils have been told to find additional beds for coronavirus patients within two weeks as the NHS prepares for a possible influx of hospital admissions, according to The Telegraph.
Isolation units are being established where COVID-19 patients can recover and room will be freed up in wards for those who need more care, the newspaper reported.
