• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • About Us
    • FAQ
    • Meet the Team
  • Contact us
TLE ONLINE SHOP!
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
  • JOBS
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
SUPPORT THE LONDON ECONOMIC
NEWSLETTER
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
  • JOBS
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home News

UK in ‘precarious position’ as second national lockdown ‘a possibility’, says leading scientist

His comments come as the Prime Minister is set to detail a new three-tier system of restrictions with measures expected to force pubs and restaurants to shut across the North of England and see millions of people banned from mixing indoors and outdoors.

Joe Mellor by Joe Mellor
2020-10-11 14:09
in News
FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmailWhatsapp

A second national lockdown is a possibility and stringent measures are needed to avoid it at all costs, a leading expert has warned.

Professor Peter Horby, of the University of Oxford, told the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show on Sunday that the country was in a “precarious position” with rising coronavirus case numbers, hospital admissions and deaths.

Prof Horby, who is also chairman of the Government advisory group for new and emerging respiratory virus threats advisory group (Nervtag), said that hospitals in parts of northern England were already starting to come under pressure.

He said that stringent measures were needed to halt the spread of the virus and added: “We are already seeing in some parts of the North that some hospitals are starting to see the pressure.

“We have a doubling time of about eight to 15 days so it is not long before those ICU (intensive care unit) beds could be full and we could be in a really difficult situation.

Difficult choices

“So I am afraid we are going to have to make some very difficult choices and act very quickly.”

When asked if the country faced a second national lockdown, he said: “I think that’s a possibility and we have to do what we can to avoid that at all costs.”

RelatedPosts

Fancy a swim? Sorry, the beaches are covered in sewage

Family of 87-year-old forced to build a shelter for him as they wait 15 hours for an ambulance

Move over, Boris: Finland’s PM is a proper raver

Mick Lynch makes rapturous speech as Enough is Enough gathers momentum

His comments come as the Prime Minister is set to detail a new three-tier system of restrictions with measures expected to force pubs and restaurants to shut across the North of England and see millions of people banned from mixing indoors and outdoors

When asked why case numbers were much higher in the North, Prof Horby said they had not been as low as the rest of the country and people were having more contact with others.

HEALTH Coronavirus
(PA Graphics)

He added: “There’s two primary reasons.

“One is that in the North the numbers never really got down as low as they did in the rest of the country.

“Those parts of the country were at a higher starting point.

“Second, we saw that over the summer that the surveys were showing that the number of contacts that people were having with each other were not as low in those parts of the country as elsewhere.

“The underlying reasons for those two things are complex and may well be related to different labour markets, housing density, deprivation, et cetera.”

Risk of death

But Prof Horby said that the risk of death for Covid-19 patients in hospitals was falling and treatments were improving.

People sit on an almost deserted beach at Barry Island in the Vale of Glamorgan (Ben Birchall/PA)
People sit on an almost deserted beach at Barry Island in the Vale of Glamorgan (Ben Birchall/PA)

He added: “It appears the risk of death in hospitalised patients is coming down.

“It was pretty high at about 25% to 30% in the last wave.

“It looks like it’s coming down to below 20%.

“We have learned a lot of things, one is that anti-inflammatories work.

“We now know antiviral drugs can work.

“So we now have got two ways of attacking this disease.”

Related: Reactions as Matt Hancock denies he broke 10pm drinking curfew in Commons bar

Since you are here

Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.

Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.

Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.

If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.

To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.

The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.

The shop can be found here.

You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .

Subscribe to our Newsletter

View our  Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

Trending on TLE

  • All
  • trending
Abdollah

‘Rescue us’: Afghan teacher begs UK to help him escape Taliban

CHOMSKY: “If Corbyn had been elected, Britain would be pursuing a much more sane course”

What If We Got Rid Of Prisons?

More from TLE

New generation of car rental comes to London

Taxing people depending on their location could help boost ailing regions

Dominic Raab’s comments on voters’ rights spectacularly backfires

The seats that Labour lost paint a very clear picture

Home Office cancels passport of acclaimed British cellist

BFI 2020 review: Farewell Amor

Why Should I Balance My Budget?

Families still waiting for answers for up to SEVEN years after a series of lengthy investigations into fatal work accidents

Weather forecast, alerts and UVB index for London, Wednesday 9 June 2021

EuroMillions Results for Friday 1 April 2022 Tonight’s winning numbers

JOBS

FIND MORE JOBS

About Us

TheLondonEconomic.com – Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle.

Read more

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.




No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Travel
  • JOBS
  • More…
    • Elevenses
    • Opinion
    • Property
    • Tech & Auto
  • About Us
    • Meet the Team
    • Privacy policy
  • Contact us

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.