Britain is at a tipping point on coronavirus, health minister Matt Hancock said on Sunday, warning that unless people follow the government rules, the virus will spread, and further restrictions will be needed.
“The nation faces a tipping point and we have a choice,” he told Sky News. “The choice is either that everybody follows the rules … or we will have to take more measures.”
Hancock later on Sunday said a second national lockdown was one possible step to curb the spread of the coronavirus, but it was not what he wanted to happened.
“If everybody follows the rules then we can avoid further national lockdowns, but we, of course, have to be prepared to take action if that’s what’s necessary,” Hancock told the BBC.
The warning was issued as a leading epidemiologist said on Saturday said Britain is likely to need to reintroduce some national coronavirus lockdown measures sooner rather than later, as new cases rose to their highest level since early May.
Neil Ferguson, a professor of epidemiology at London’s Imperial College and a former government adviser, told the BBC the country was facing a “perfect storm” of rising infections as people return to work and school.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday that he did not want another national lockdown but that new restrictions may be needed because the country was facing an “inevitable” second wave of COVID-19.
“I think some additional measures are likely to be needed sooner rather than later,” Ferguson said.
Ministers were on Friday reported to be considering a second national lockdown, with new COVID-19 cases already at their highest in months, hospital admissions rising and soaring infection rates across parts of northern England and London.
“Right now we’re at about the levels of infection we were seeing in this country in late February, and if we leave it another two to four weeks we’ll be back at levels we were seeing more back in mid-March, and that’s going to – or could – cause deaths,” Ferguson said.
Government data on Saturday showed 4,422 new cases, 100 more than on Friday and the highest daily total since May 8, based on positive test results.
The true rate of infection is likely to be higher. Britain’s statistics agency said on Friday that around 6,000 people a day in England alone probably caught the disease during the week to Sept. 10, based on its random testing.
Britain has suffered Europe’s highest death toll from COVID-19, with more than 41,000 deaths on the government’s preferred measure.
The sharp increase in infections has not yet led to a similar rise in new fatalities – in part because cases have been concentrated among younger people – but hospital admissions are now beginning to rise.
More than 10 million people in parts of northern and central England are already under some form of lockdown restriction, such as a ban on inviting friends or family to their homes, or visiting pubs and restaurants after 10 p.m.
London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, said on Friday that tighter lockdown measures were becoming “increasingly likely” for Britain’s capital.
