UK close to ‘lower level’ of COVID and third wave could be much smaller – Van-Tam | UK News

The UK is “at or near the bottom” of coronavirus case levels, according to England’s deputy chief medical officer who praised the public for sticking to the lockdown measures.

Talk to Downing Street COVID briefing, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said: “We are really at very low levels which are comparable to where we were in September of last year.

“We use a typical seven-day average with just over 2,000 people testing positive per day.

“I have a feeling that we are probably at or near the bottom right now in terms of this level of disease in the UK.”

He added: Much of the steady decline we’ve seen, the demise of our third wave, is due to the efforts of the British people in the wake of the lockdown. “

But he also warned of “the twists and turns ahead” and said he expected “some degree of bumps” likely in the fall and winter.

The British government has announced that it has obtained another 60 million doses of Pfizer vaccine to use as an accelerator to protect the country’s progress before the colder months.

Professor Van-Tam said the modeling suggested there would be a third wave in the UK, but that “it may just be a third upsurge and much less significant.”

Boris Johnson has repeatedly warned in recent weeks that the third wave of coronavirus sweeping across Europe will eventually “wash up on our shores”.

Professor Van-Tam said that in the coming weeks, as new lockdowns in England are expected to be relaxed, there will be “good pressures” and “bad pressures” on R.

R represents the average number of people infected by a person infected with the virus.

When the number is greater than 1, an epidemic can grow exponentially – but it will decrease if it is less than 1.

He said the wrong pressures would be the increasing levels of mixing among Britons who have a “propensity to increase R”.

But he also said the continued rollout of the vaccine to younger people would put “downward pressure” on R, as he compared it to “the competition …