Health experts have urged Boris Johnson to tighten coronavirus restrictions in England where needed “without any delay” or risk hospitals being overwhelmed by a third wave of Covid-19 infections.
In a letter to the prime minister ahead of Wednesday’s review of the tiered system, NHS Providers urged the government to exercise “extreme caution” if moving any area to a lower tier, and not to hesitate placing areas including the capital into tier 3 as soon as it became apparent this would be the most appropriate course of action.
Chris Hopson, chief executive of the group that represents NHS hospitals, community, mental health and ambulance services, said there had been a worrying increase in infections and hospitalisations in London, Kent and Essex, adding: “It is particularly concerning that these increases come at the tail-end of a second national lockdown.”
He warned that at the start of September, the NHS was treating 500 hospitalised Covid-19 patients, but by 10 December, this figure had soared to 13,000 patients. Additionally, the NHS has 10,000 fewer beds in operation this winter due to infection control measures.
Wednesday’s review of the UK’s tiered system comes as countries across Europe tighten coronavirus restrictions. Germany will go into ‘hard lockdown’ next week following a record rise in infections and deaths.
UK ministers will assess the latest data as well as guidance from bodies such as NHS Test and Trace and the chief medical officers, with new rules for each area due to come into effect shortly after.
Each area will be assessed using five criteria: pressures on local NHS services, the positivity rate, the case rate in all age groups and particularly among the over 60s.
Leading scientists have also raised concerns about the UK’s planned relaxation of rules over Christmas whereby three households across a five day period will be permitted to form a “Christmas bubble” and gather within private homes, outdoor public spaces or places of worship.
Sarah Gilbert, lead researcher on the Oxford Vaccine Development Programme told BBC’s Andrew Marr Show that it was vital that the UK avoided following in the footsteps of the US, which has experienced 3,000 coronavirus deaths each day following Thanksgiving celebrations in November.
Professor Gilbert also warned that a surge in infections throughout the new year would slow down the delivery of the vaccines, with GPs expected to begin administering the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine from this week.
“It’s not possible to run vaccination clinics when staff are off sick and there’s a very high transmission rate affecting people’s ability to come to be vaccinated”, she said. “What we do over the next few weeks is really going to have a big impact on how long it’s going to take to get back to normal.”
Despite the warnings about relaxing rules around Christmas, foreign secretary Dominic Raab said that while those in the scientific community had a right “to be concerned” about the spread of the virus, the government remained committed to its strategy.
In an interview with Sky News, he said: “It has been a really tough year all round, everyone has felt it, I think people do need that five day window over Christmas to spend a bit of time with their loved ones — I think on a mental health level and emotional level people do need it.”
A government spokesperson said: “We will not hesitate to take necessary actions to protect local communities and tiering decisions are made by ministers based on the latest available data and advice from public health experts.”
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiP2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmZ0LmNvbS9jb250ZW50LzZiYjg4NTg3LTkwMmYtNGFiYS04MTQ3LTIyNzc4NDlmYzI2ZNIBP2h0dHBzOi8vYW1wLmZ0LmNvbS9jb250ZW50LzZiYjg4NTg3LTkwMmYtNGFiYS04MTQ3LTIyNzc4NDlmYzI2ZA?oc=5
2020-12-13 18:25:00Z
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