LONDON (AP) — Millions of people in northern England are anxiously waiting to hear how much further virus restrictions will be tightened as one of the British government’s leading medical advisers warned Sunday that the country is at a crucial juncture in the second wave of the coronavirus.
England’s deputy chief medical officer, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, said the UK is at a “tipping point similar to where we were in March” following a sharp increase in new coronavirus cases.
“But we can prevent history repeating itself if we all act now,” he said. “Now we know where it is and how to tackle it – let’s grasp this opportunity and prevent history from repeating itself.”
All across Europe including the UK, the pandemic has found fresh legs over the past few weeks following the reopening of large sectors of the economy, as well as schools and universities. Infection levels — and deaths — in the UK are rising at their fastest rates in months.
Without quick action, there are fears that UK hospitals will be overwhelmed in the coming weeks at a time of year when they are already at their busiest with winter-related afflictions like the flu. So far the UK has experienced Europe’s deadliest virus outbreak, with over 42,750 confirmed deaths.
Although new coronavirus infections are rising throughout England, cities in the North — Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle — have seen a disproportionate increase in new cases. While some rural areas in eastern England have less than 20 cases per 100,000 people, major metropolitan areas such as Manchester are recording levels above 500 per 100,000, nearly as bad as Madrid or Brussels.
As a result, national restrictions such as a 10 p.m. curfew on pubs and restaurants have been supplemented by local actions, including in some cases banning contacts between households. In Scotland’s two biggest cities, Glasgow and Edinburgh, pubs have already closed for 16 days to suppress the outbreak.
In response to the virus’ resurgence, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to announce a new three-tier local lockdown system Monday, which could temporarily close pubs and restaurants in the virus hotspots. The speculation is that those areas put under the tightest restrictions would forbid all household mixing, indoors or out.
Local leaders in northern England have vented their fury at the Conservative government over what they see as an “inadequate” wage support scheme that it announced Friday and for not properly telling them about the upcoming restrictions. The wage plan aims to help employees in companies that are forced to close due to virus restrictions but mayors say it’s not generous enough in paying only two-thirds of employees’ wages and doesn’t compensate those indirectly hit by any business closures, such as drink suppliers to pubs.
Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick on Sunday sought to assuage concerns that the government was being overly top-down in its approach.
“We are trying to work very closely with mayors, with council leaders, with chief executives to design these measures with them,” he told Sky News. “That does take time.”
Separately, Health Secretary Matt Hancock denied claims that he broke the government´s drinking curfew after the Mail on Sunday newspaper claimed he was seen having a drink in a House of Commons bar after 10 p.m.
“The proposed timeline of events is false and no rules have been broken,” a spokesman for the health secretary said.