Thousands of vulnerable people ‘will spend the winter indoors while the Government recovers the armor’

Hundreds of thousands of Britons are facing wintering indoors as the government prepares to resume protecting the vulnerable at hotspots, it has been reported.

Under new measures that could be announced next week, vulnerable people in areas with high infection rates could be told to stay indoors.

Jenny Harries, England’s deputy chief medical officer, has been devising a “tailored protection” scheme that would apply with more personalized advice than general rules, The Times reports.

The proposals would replace those that saw 2.2 million Britons locked up earlier this year in August, a move that made a huge emotional shock to many.

Depression and anxiety were twice as common among protected people than other similar people, the studies found.

Loneliness, fear of finding food, and concern for their health influenced the minds of many in isolation.

Have a story about the coronavirus to share? Email [email protected]

On this occasion, people would not be forbidden to go out, but instead would be told when it was safe to do things like shopping, guided by an algorithm developed by the University of Oxford.

A Whitehall source told the publication: “It is a huge request to lock up people to take refuge in what could be a long winter.”

The proposals, which have not been finalized, come amid rising infection rates in the north.

Across the country, hospital admissions for Covid-19 are also rapidly increasing, with 609 coronavirus patients being seen yesterday.

During the first blockade, the shielding helped prevent the NHS from being overwhelmed.

But in some parts of the country, intensive care units are already under pressure due to the large number of Covid-19 patients in need of care.

Shielding is likely to be introduced in line with the three-tier system established across the country to determine which areas should have what restrictions applied, the Times adds.

Martin Marshall, director of the Royal College of GP, said generalized armor should be introduced only if it is “absolutely necessary.”

That point may be reached, if hospitalizations and coronavirus cases continue to increase at the current rate.

Today it was reported that the number of coronavirus patients in intensive care in the Northeast and Yorkshire could soon exceed the April peak.

The grim prediction was made at a briefing chaired by Chris Whitty and the Minister of State for Health at the Department of Health and Social Care, Ed Argar.

In a recording of the meeting, an official can be heard explaining how dire the situation is in the northeast of England and Yorkshire.

“There are 94 people in ICU beds in the Northeast right now, an average for the last week is around 80 in bed a day for the last week,” an official can be heard saying in the leaked audio.

He adds: “We have seen a doubling in the number of ICU beds in 13 days.

“If that growth rate advances, it reaches 304 people in ICU beds in 22 days, that would be above the peak of the first wave when we have 302 people in ICU beds.”