Patrick Vallance warns coronavirus deaths will continue to rise
Yesterday Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his intention to end all restrictions in England on July 19, despite the growing number of new cases. Speaking at a Downing Street press conference, Mr Johnson said: “If we can’t reopen our company in the next few weeks… when will we?”
However, England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty has warned Britain is unlikely to return to normal until the pandemic this year.
Speaking to the Local Government Association (LGA) today, Professor Whitty said: ‘There will almost certainly be a surge in Covid [in winter] and this will be in addition to a return to a more normal respiratory surge.
“It’s going to take enough time, I think, to get back to normalcy and I would certainly be surprised if we returned to what most of us would see as sort of the status quo – before the pandemic – by spring. next.
“Because I think we have this current wave, hopefully there will be a quieter Covid period after that, and then it will be another pretty tough winter, especially for the NHS – then by spring next hopefully slightly more in a more predictable pattern. “
Professor Chris Whitty (Image: Getty)
Prime Minister Boris Johnson (Image: Getty)
Joining Mr Johnson from Downing Street yesterday, Professor Whitty acknowledged that while some restrictions will always be better than none, they must be released at some point.
He said: “At some point you go to a situation where, instead of avoiding hospitalizations and deaths, you just delay them.
“So you don’t actually change the number of people who will go to the hospital or die, you can change when that happens.
“A lot of people, including myself in fact, think that going in the summer has certain advantages, all other things being equal, to opening up in the fall when schools resume and when we head into the winter period. where the NHS tends to be under the greatest pressure for many other reasons. “
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Coronavirus cases across the UK (Image: Express)
Professor Neil Ferguson – who was instrumental in Britain’s first lockdown last year – also said moving forward with July’s ‘Freedom Day’ was ‘justifiable’.
Speaking to the Today program, Professor Ferguson said: “It’s a slight bet, it’s a slight experiment at the moment, and I think it’s justifiable and I’m reasonably optimistic, but the policy will have to stay. flexible.”
Freedom Day on July 19 in England will remove mandatory masks on public transport and in shops.
Limits on indoor and outdoor gatherings and social distancing rules in pubs and restaurants should also be removed.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid (Image: Getty)
Addressing the nation yesterday, Mr Johnson said: ‘We are going to move away from legal restrictions and allow people to make their own informed decisions on how to deal with the virus.
“We have to be honest with ourselves that if we cannot reopen our company in the next few weeks, when we will be helped by the arrival of summer and by the school holidays, then we must ask ourselves when can we? return to normal? “
He added: “To those who say we should delay again – the alternative is to open in the winter when the virus has an advantage or not at all this year.”
However, Mr Johnson warned that the pandemic was “far from over” and that there could be around 50,000 new cases each day by July 19.
All restrictions will be relaxed from July 19 (Image: Getty)
Health Secretary Sajid Javid has admitted cases could reach 100,000 when England eases lockdown measures.
He told the Today program: “It’s fair to say what you just said, I just told Parliament yesterday, by the 19th we expect the number of cases to be at least double. from what it is now, so about 50,000 cases per day.
“As we relax and move into summer, we expect cases to increase dramatically and they could reach 100,000 cases.
“We want to be very straightforward about what we can expect in terms of the number of cases, but what matters more than anything are the numbers of hospitalizations and deaths.
“This is where the bond is severely weakened.”
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This notice was published: 2021-07-06 19:14:24
