Brits’ ‘party-time’ attitude has halted fall in coronavirus cases – risking an extra 30,000 deaths
'PARTY-TIME' Brits have halted a fall in coronavirus cases for the first time in months - risking an extra 30,000 deaths, experts have said.
Senior scientific advisers have said infection rates have stopped falling for the first time in months due to people starting to meet up again.
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Experts advising ministers have warned that infections have been "flat" or "maybe up a bit" in recent weeks with new confirmed cases remaining at an incidence level of around 1,000 per day.
And scientists from 'the Independent Sage' group, which is separate from the team of experts who advise the government, say current levels could lead to 30,000 extra deaths and urged people to stick to the rules.
It comes after cooped-up Brits tired of the lockdown measures flocked to beaches and parks during a 33C heatwave this week.
And a senior Government scientific adviser “This is not party time, this is time to go very carefully with these new release of measures.”
He added: “Determining acceptable incidence is a matter for Government.”
It comes ahead of further government plans to unlock Britain on July 4, with pubs and restaurants opening for the first time in three months.
Schools and non-essential businesses have already been opened, but leisure centres still have not got the go ahead.
'KEEP THAT DOWNWARD TREND'
University College London's Professor Christina Pagel, from the Independent Safe group, said: “New daily infections have stopped their downward trend and have been level for the last few weeks.
“I think Chris Whitty said recently that he was expecting this kind of level to carry on for about another nine months in to next year.
“If we carry on with 100 to 150 deaths a day that’s over 30,000 deaths.
“I think we really, really need to keep that downward trend.”
It also estimated that NHS Test and Trace is only reaching a third of symptomatic Covid-19 cases and obtaining details of contacts.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) surveillance study estimated on Thursday that new infections were steady at more than 3,000 a day in the last fortnight for which data is available. They had been falling since April.
But separate government figures suggest cases are still falling by two or four percent a day.
The Government adviser said: “It’s quite possible this is a true flattening and it might be down to increased contacts.”
A draft note dated May 20 in papers released today by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies [SAGE] that advises the government recommended: “Decreasing daily incidence of symptomatic cases in all regions across the UK until the target acceptable incidence is reached, then incidence kept below that target.
“This target is yet to be specified and needs to be spelt out. We suggest 1,000 new symptomatic swab +ve cases per day in the UK.”
It then added that this acceptable level would be “policy decision”.
It comes after Brits flouted social distancing measures and packed out beaches nationwide as temperatures soared to 33C in the past few days.
Bournemouth declared a major incident on Thursday after emergency services struggled to cope with the huge crowds of sun-seekers descending on the beach.
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Meanwhile beach brawl erupted among a pack of up to 200 youths in Exmouth.
And Matt Hancock threatened the public with beach closures if they continued to ignore the government's guidance.
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Current coronavirus laws mean it is still illegal for members of different households to meet up in groups bigger than six.
