LONDON (Reuters) – The UK government must introduce stricter coronavirus shutdown rules to prevent a new wave of deaths from a new form of the disease, a leading epidemiologist and government adviser warned Tuesday.
Britain reported 41,385 new COVID cases Monday, the highest number since testing became widely available in mid-2020, and UK hospitals say they have more COVID patients than during the first wave of the April pandemic.
“We are entering a very dangerous new phase of the pandemic, and we will need decisive, early national action to prevent a catastrophe in January and February,” said Andrew Hayward, professor of infectious disease epidemiology at University College London.
More than 71,000 people in Britain have died within 28 days of a positive test for the disease.
Hayward, who is a member of a UK government advisory board on respiratory disease, said the new variant of COVID, which makes infected people easier, means that existing lockdown measures in England are unlikely to be enough to slow the spread of the disease.
On December 26, the UK government expanded the strictest level of COVID restrictions, under which non-essential retailers are closed and people are usually unable to meet in person, to cover nearly half of the UK population.
Hayward told the BBC that these curbs needed to be extended further.
“We are really looking at a situation where we are about to lock,” he said.
Schools in England will open again on January 4 for many students. Hayward said it would make sense from a purely epidemiological standpoint to keep them closed for longer, but the difficulties poorer students experienced learning online meant a drag in other areas of public life may be preferable.
Authorities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland set their own policies regarding schools and measures to combat COVID.
Reporting by David Milliken, edition by Paul Sandle