UK could face 50,000 coronavirus cases a day in weeks if the rise isn’t stopped

Chief medical officer Chris Whitty and the Government’s chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance addressed the nation this morning.

The UK’s scientific experts in charge of the effort to tackle coronavirus laid bare the seriousness of a second wave this winter.           

They said the country faces a ‘very challenging winter’, and that the UK is heading in ‘the wrong direction’ when it comes to coronavirus infection rates.            

Sir Patrick presented the first slide which showed that cases in Spain and France have increased, leading to an increase in hospitalisations – with deaths also increasing too.

According to the ONS, about 6,000 people a day are getting coronavirus in the UK, with approximately 70,000 people ill with Covid-19.

Sir Patrick added that there’s been an increase in cases across all age groups, which is not down to more testing.

This increase in cases has also led to an increase in hospitalisations, and if the number of coronavirus cases continues to double every week there would be 49,000 new cases per day by October 13th – 50,000 cases per day would lead to 200+ deaths a day a month later.

Sir Patrick added: “The way that we reduce the spread is by limiting our number of contacts, by reducing contact in environments where spread is more likely – those are crowded environments, indoor environments, poor ventilation – and making sure that we reduce the probability of coming into contact with anyone who is infectious.

“And that’s the importance of self-isolation, keeping out of circulation if you have, or may have, the virus.”

Professor Whitty says coronavirus poses four types of risk: direct deaths from Covid-19, the NHS being overwhelmed, an indirect impact on health because operations etc get postponed, and it can have a big impact on the economy, society and people’s mental health.