Boris Johnson under pressure to impose tougher lockdown measures as Covid-19 cases surge

Boris Johnson faces rising calls to introduce one other nationwide lockdown as scientists warn coronavirus measures in England are failing to manage the unfold of the illness.

Infections are doubling each 9 days and an estimated 960,000 persons are carrying the virus in England on any sooner or later, in line with the newest findings from Imperial College London and Ipsos Mori, which is conducting one of many nation’s largest research of the illness. The copy price of the virus — a measure of how many individuals on common are contaminated by a single provider — has risen to 1.6, in comparison with 1.2 when the final figures had been printed October 9.

The stark outcomes add to the strain on the Prime Minister to impose even tighter social restrictions within the battle in opposition to the virus, as deaths and instances climb as soon as once more. Elsewhere in Europe, governments are already taking motion: France has introduced a brand new monthlong nationwide lockdown and Germany has imposed its hardest guidelines because the spring.

So far, Johnson has resisted a second nationwide lockdown, preferring a localized tiered method the place areas with the best an infection charges face more durable social distancing guidelines, together with a ban on family mixing and shutting pubs that don’t promote meals. But members of the SAGE scientific committee advising the federal government are calling for more durable motion.

“It’s like living through a fire that is out of control with the government using buckets of water instead of fire engines to extinguish the flames,” Susan Michie, a professor of well being psychology at University College London who sits on SAGE, stated on Twitter.

Jeremy Farrar, an infectious illness knowledgeable who additionally sits on SAGE, stated delaying a lockdown in March left the U.Okay. with one of many worst outcomes globally and warned the federal government in opposition to making the identical mistake. “Delaying is itself a decision with consequences,” he stated on Twitter.

But the federal government stood agency on Thursday and stated it should proceed with its localized technique.

“It is right to try everything in our power to avoid a blanket national lockdown, it brings with it great damage to people’s lives and livelihoods,” Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick informed BBC Radio 4. “Each country has to take its own balanced judgment.”

Nottinghamshire was the newest space to maneuver into the federal government’s highest stage of restrictions on Wednesday, becoming a member of the likes of Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire and Merseyside.

Coronavirus continues to unfold throughout the U.Okay.: 310 new deaths had been reported on Wednesday, following the 367 on Tuesday which was the best every day complete since May. The variety of every day positive instances rose by 24,701, in comparison with 22,885 the day earlier than.

The Imperial findings cohere with new modeling by SAGE, which suggests the U.Okay. is heading in the right direction for a chronic winter peak within the pandemic the place there might be extra deaths than final spring.

Britain’s loss of life toll from the second coronavirus wave may attain 85,000 in a “reasonable worst case scenario,” the Telegraph newspaper reported, citing SAGE paperwork.

“The second wave of the epidemic in England has now reached a critical stage,” the scientists stated within the report led by Steven Riley, professor of infectious illness dynamics at Imperial. “Our results suggest strongly that one or more of the policies themselves, the timing of tier advancement, or levels of compliance, have not been sufficient to date to achieve control.”

The opposition Labour Party, in addition to Johnson’s personal scientific advisers final month, have referred to as for a short lived “circuit breaker” nationwide lockdown to get the virus underneath management. Labour referred to as on Johnson to carry a press convention Thursday on the federal government’s Covid technique.

“People will be alarmed and worried and looking for reassurance from ministers,” Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s well being spokesman, stated in a press release on the Imperial College examine. “Businesses are fearful that a delay in taking decisive national action will create further, deeper uncertainty for the economy.”

The surge is coming as the federal government’s key test-and-trace program continues to overlook key targets, hampering efforts to comprise the illness. The Guardian newspaper reported authorities officers have requested native well being chiefs to deploy new 30-minute saliva kits to speed up mass screening.