By Tony O’Riley
The UK is “at or close to the bottom” of levels of coronavirus cases, according to England’s deputy chief medical officer.
Speaking at a Downing Street COVID briefing, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam applauded the British public’s general compliance with lockdown measures, which he said was the main reason for the dramatic fall in cases across the UK: “We are really in very low levels that are comparable to where we were in September last year.
AD: Capeesh Restaurant
“We are running as a typical seven-day average at just over 2,000 people testing positive per day.
“My sense is that probably we are at or close to the bottom at the moment in terms of this level of disease in the UK.”
He added: “Most of the steady decline we have seen, the disappearance of our third wave, has been down to the efforts of the British people in following lockdown.”
AD: Oysterian Sea Food Restaurant And Bar
Professor Tam then warned of “twists and turns ahead” and said he anticipated “some degree of bumpiness” probably in the autumn and winter. His choice of the word ‘bumpiness’ was referring to a third wave, which is far from certain, but one prime minister Boris Johnson made reference to when he originally announced the easing of the third lockdown.
Professor Tam’s suggestion of a third wave is merely speculation and not supported by any evidence. The projection of a less significant wave of covid-19 cases than the past is nevertheless more encouraging than previous predictions of horror and doom.
The UK government has announced it has secured another 60 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine to use as booster jabs to protect the country’s progress ahead of the colder months. Prof Van-Tam said the modelling suggested there will be a third wave in the UK but it “may be just a third upsurge and much less significant”.
Prof Van-Tam said in the next weeks as further lockdown measures in England are set to be eased there will be “good pressures” and “bad pressures” on R.
R represents the average number of people a person with the virus goes on to infect.
When the figure is above 1, an outbreak can grow exponentially – but it is shrinking if it is below 1.
He said the bad pressures would be the rising levels of mixing among Britons which would have a “propensity to increase R”.
But he also said the continuing vaccine rollout to younger people would put “downward pressure” on the infection rate.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the UK was on track to ease further lockdown restrictions, including allowing some indoor mixing between households, next month.He said: “The data show that we are essentially precisely on track for where we expected to be at this point and that is obviously good news.
“The dates we set out are not-before dates because we want to see the impact of each step before the decision to take the next step.
“The good news is that as far as the next step is concerned, which is in a few weeks’ time – and we’re going to keep monitoring the data – but as of today, we are on track for step three on May 17 and that is good news.”
However, as the UK enjoys falling rates of covid cases, Matt Hancock has pledged to “stand side by side” with India in its hour of need as it experiences a deadly second wave of coronavirus.
The Health Secretary said that scenes being seen in India are “harrowing” and that the “bonds between our countries are so strong, ties of family and friendship”.
Downing Street has been in constant contact with the Indian government and the UK’s first aid package including ventilators and oxygen had arrived with more were on their way, he added.
AD: Heritage And Restaurant Lounge Bar