[ad_1]
The prime minister is under mounting pressure to implement stricter rules on the coronavirus after deaths in the UK reached their highest level in five months.
On Tuesday, there were 367 deaths related to the virus and almost 23,000 more cases.
Downing Street has not rejected an internal projection from its SAGE experts that this winter could see more deaths than the spring, with a spokesperson calling the latest figures “worrying.”
The prime minister is coming under “intense” pressure from experts such as chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance to increase restrictions, according to The Daily Telegraph.
He says government advisers fear daily deaths will remain in the hundreds for at least three months.
They also warned that all of England will need to be under tighter Level 3 restrictions by mid-December, The Sun reports.
The current official count of COVID-19Related deaths in the UK is almost 59,000.
Dr Yvonne Doyle, England’s chief medical officer for Public Health, warned Tuesday that the surge in deaths “is likely to continue for some time.”
As the effort to suppress the increase in cases and deaths continues, West Yorkshire is rumored to be the next course to Level 3 coronavirus rules, i.e. additional restrictions on domestic mixing and the closing of pubs that don’t serve food.
Warrington entered the upper tier on Tuesday, while the Nottingham area will join in from Thursday.
Liverpool City Region, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and South Yorkshire are already on Level 3.
Staffordshire, meanwhile, is online to be upgraded to Level 2 – that is, do not mix at home indoors – as early as the weekend.
It means more than eight million people could be under the tightest lockdown by the end of the week, prompting calls for clarification on how the restrictions will be eased.
Concerns over a North-South divide have prompted Tory MPs in the new Northern Research Group to write to Boris Johnson asking for a “clear roadmap” out of the blockade.
Nottingham is ready to join large areas of the north at Level 3
The head of the group, Jake Berry, said that “the cost of Covid and the virus itself threatens to push back the North.”
It comes as the chairman of the UK Vaccine Working Group warned that the first generation of vaccines “is probably imperfect” and that “they may not work for everyone.”
Kate bingham warned against over-optimism and said any vaccine might not work for everyone, or for long.
In other major coronavirus developments, France is said to be on the brink of another widespread national lockdown.
President Macron will address the nation later after the death toll in the country reached 523, the highest since April, while the cases surpassed 33,000.
