Speaking at an event at the British Science Museum, the country’s chief medical officer said we are “by no means out of the woods yet” and warned that cases and hospitalizations could resume. Recent data from Covid suggests cases are increasing in men as a result of the Euro 2020 football tournament.
Mr Whitty warned that healthcare facilities could soon be faced with “frightening numbers” if cases grow exponentially.
“Currently, this epidemic is doubling,” he said.
“It doubles in cases. It also doubles the number of people hospitalized and doubles the number of deaths.
“We still have over 2,000 people in the hospital, and that number is growing.
“If we double from 2000 to 4000, from 4000 to 8000, to 8000 and so on, it doesn’t take long to double until you are very, very large.”
The UK is currently experiencing a new wave of the virus, with data as of July 14 showing more than 37,000 new cases daily.
The pace of progress does not appear to be slowing down, as the UK prepares to drop all Covid restrictions from Monday, July 19.
Despite the removal of Covid rules from the law, ministers and other political leaders are urging the public to continue wearing face coverings in crowded spaces and on public transport.
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The government said masks were still “expected and recommended” and asked retailers to consider encouraging face coverings for workers.
The prime minister told the public to exercise “extreme caution” and take “personal responsibility” whenever possible.
Mr Whitty added: “I don’t think we should underestimate the fact that we could get into trouble again surprisingly quickly.
“We’re not out of the woods on this point yet, we’re in much better shape thanks to the immunization program, drugs and a variety of other things.
“But it has a long way to go in the UK, and it is even further from working globally.”
He added that the key on July 19 was to “take things incredibly slowly” and expected people to continue to take precautions.
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He said: “If you look at what people have done, and actually if you look at what people are planning to do now, people have been incredibly good at saying, ‘I can be relatively low risk. , but the people around me are at high risk, and I will change my behavior ”.
Covid cases have remained relatively even between men and women throughout the pandemic, but since England’s game against Croatia on June 13, men have seen a higher number of cases.
Data from Public Health England showed 10,267 more cases in men than women in the past two weeks.
Although cases continue to rise, deaths have remained relatively low. The UK recorded just 36 deaths on July 14 but 37,341 new cases.
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Source: feedproxy.google.com
This notice was published: 2021-07-16 03:30:00
