LONDON (Reuters) – The UK government needs to bring in stricter rules to block coronavirus to prevent a new wave of deaths caused by a new strain of the disease, an epidemiologist and government adviser warned on Tuesday.
The UK reported 41,385 new cases of COVID on Monday, the highest number since tests became widely available in mid-2020, and UK hospitals say they have more patients with COVID than during the first pandemic. since April.
“We are entering a very dangerous new phase of the pandemic and we will need decisive national action to prevent a catastrophe in January and February,” said Andrew Hayward, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology at University College London.
More than 71,000 people in the UK have died within 28 days of a positive test for the disease.
Hayward, who is on a British government advisory body on respiratory disease, said the new COVID strain that infected people means more easily means that existing blockade measures in England will not be enough to slow the spread of the disease.
On December 26, the British government extended the strictest level of COVID restrictions, according to which non-essential retailers are closed and people cannot meet for the most part, to cover almost half of England’s population.
Hayward told the BBC that these borders need to be further expanded.
“We are really looking at a situation where we are close to blocking,” he said.
Schools in England are set to reopen for many pupils on January 4th. Hayward said that, from a purely epidemiological point of view, it would make sense to keep them more closed, but the difficulties of the poorer students facing online learning have meant borders in other areas of public life. might be preferable.
Authorities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have established their own school policies and measures to combat COVID.
Reported by David Milliken, edited by Paul Sandle