Just 3 people died of Coronavirus today, THREE people! Deaths stats are going to be incredibly low now, most probably in single digits across a 7-day rolling average. So if this social distancing and face mask wearing rules continues for too much longer now, it really is going to absolutely ridiculous and absolute insanity as it's absolutely doing enormous damage to the economy, people's livelihoods and mental health. Even November at the earliest to scrap social distancing and face masking wearing rules is far too late.
Professor Jonathan Van Tam warning daily "normal life" will not return until AT LEAST Easter 2021! You must be absolutely joking man! We can't continue with this madness for another EIGHT MONTHS!!!
Daily life will not return to 'normal' until Easter 2021, medical chief warns
Jonathan Van Tam, deputy chief medical officer, said spring 2021 would present a "new dawn" for the country - but urged people to follow lockdown rules until then.
A Government health chief has warned life as we know it may not return to normal until 2021.
Professor Jonathan Van Tam, deputy chief medical officer for England,
warned normality may not return until at least Easter next year as new daily infections from
coronavirus crept up again.
In the week ending August 9 the Office for National Statistics estimated there were 3,800 new infections a day
This is up from 3,700 a day the previous week and was published as Government scientists announced the R reproductive number “may be increasing”,
the Mirror reports.
Professor Van warned the public to follow the rules until a vaccine could become effective.
“I don’t think the use of vaccines will provide a meaningful ‘public health result’ until about Easter,” he said.
“After that I’m hoping that their impact will be substantial.
“I’d hope that spring 2021 will represent a new dawn for the country, by which time we’ll be able to live life fairly safely.
“Even so, moving forward, the way we live will change.
“Covid-19 won’t be eradicated anytime soon and we’ll have to learn to live with it to some extent.
“Maybe working from home will become far more common over the longer term in some industries.”
The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) published its latest R range showing it remained between 0.8 and 1 for the UK.
However it warned this is based on factors including deaths and hospital admissions which can take a few weeks to show up in the data.
The ONS surveillance testing of 20,000 people revealed new infections had surged by 50% in the week up to July 26 before dropping slightly in the week ending August 2.
Katherine Kent, head of the ONS Covid-19 Infection Survey, said: “This week’s estimate suggests that the increase in infections in England seen in July has now levelled off.
Jonathan Van Tam, deputy chief medical officer, said spring 2021 would present a "new dawn" for the country - but urged people to follow lockdown rules until then
www.chroniclelive.co.uk