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The latest “big change” in coronavirus infections in the UK is of “great concern,” England’s deputy chief medical officer warned.
Professor Jonathan Van Tam said that people have “relaxed too much” over the summer and “we have to start taking this very seriously again.”
Otherwise, the UK will have a “bumpy ride for the next few months,” he warned.
He said infections among young people in EU countries had later trickled down to older age groups.
France and Spain are among several European countries that have seen a sharp increase in coronavirus cases in recent weeks, after lockdown restrictions were eased and testing for the disease intensified.
On Monday, Spain became the first Western European country to record 500,000 infections, after accounting for more than 26,000 new infections over the weekend.
Professor Van Tam’s comments came as more parts of the UK will face stricter restrictions following an increase in the number of cases.
On Sunday, UK authorities announced 2,988 new cases, the highest figure since May 22, while a further 2,948 cases were reported in the 24 hours to 09:00 BST on Monday.
The stricter rules on home visiting will be extended to two more areas in the west of Scotland from midnight.
In Wales, the Caerphilly county district will be placed under a local lockdown starting at 18:00 BST on Tuesday.
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“People have become too relaxed, now is the time to re-engage and realize that this is an ongoing threat to us,” said Professor Van Tam.
The increase in cases that we have seen in the last two days seems like a pretty big jump.
But it is still well below where we were in the spring.
Official figures show that we reached 6,000 cases a day at some points, but that was only the tip of the iceberg.
The tests were only largely done in hospitals, so virtually none of the infections were detected in the community.
Estimates suggest that there were around 100,000 cases per day at the peak.
So the fact that we now have close to 3,000 a day when mass testing is available (although we clearly don’t catch all cases) means that we are a long way from where we were.
But there is alarm within the government.
While most cases are in younger age groups, the more they increase, the more difficult it becomes to keep the virus away from the most vulnerable people.
Professor Van Tam added that hospital admissions and deaths were “at a very low level” in the UK and the increase in cases was most prominent among people aged 17-21, but the country is at risk of continuing. the trajectory of some EU countries.
“When the number of cases initially increases in the younger parts of the population, it in turn leaks out and begins to give high rates of illness and hospital admissions in the older age groups, and we know that later it becomes a serious problem public health, “he said. said.
“The fact that young people from 17 to 21 years old do not get sick means that they are lucky, but they also forget because the disease is not serious for them that they are powerful propagators.”
‘Strong warning’
Professor Van Tam added that the trend has moved away from “specific tipping points”, such as the one that occurred in Leicester last month.
Instead, “there is a more general and progressive geographical trend across the UK that disease levels are starting to rise.”
He urged public health officials and politicians to think about how the virus is handled not in the short term, but over the next six months and “until spring.”
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BBC health editor Hugh Pym said it was a “strong warning” about the spread of the virus from Professor Van Tam, who hinted that next week would be critical as officials and ministers studied the emerging data.
“This is a wake-up call for the public to be real about the social distancing of a medical leader who is clearly concerned,” added our correspondent.
It comes after Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced a change in England’s quarantine policy, taking an approach that allows islands to be treated differently than the mainland of a country.
He said travelers arriving in England from seven Greek islands will have to isolate themselves for 14 days starting at 04:00 BST on Wednesday.
They are Crete, Lesbos, Mykonos, Santorini, Serifos, Tinos, and Zakynthos (also known as Zante).
