Johnson Warns Against ‘Complacency’ as U.K. Covid Cases Rise
U.K. Plans Tighter Limit on Home Gatherings as Virus Surges
(Bloomberg) -- Boris Johnson warned against “complacency” over a surge in coronavirus cases as his officials drew up plans to tighten social-distancing rules and the U.K.’s testing program struggled to keep up with demand.
The U.K. has posted almost 6,000 new cases of coronavirus over the past two days, reaching daily levels not seen since May. That’s sparked concern in government that the U.K. could follow the paths of Spain and France, where hospitalizations have begun to rise again.
“This must be a moment of clarity for us all. This is not over,” Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the House of Commons on Tuesday. “Just because we’ve been through one peak it doesn’t mean we can’t see another one coming towards our shores.”
Hancock said the government will be tightening enforcement of pandemic rules and stepping up communication on social distancing. He also gave an indication of what areas facing a surge in cases can expect, announcing new restrictions in the northern town of Bolton, including shorter opening hours for pubs.
Meanwhile, the prime minister’s team is looking at cutting the maximum number of people who are legally allowed to gather in a private home, according to a senior official.
Tougher Rules
While guidelines in England suggest no more than six people should meet, police can only take action against groups of more than 30. Options under consideration include tougher police enforcement to break up groups that are too large, the official said.
Johnson told his Cabinet other countries had seen increased infections among young people who “had gone on to infect older generations, who had become seriously ill, and it was vital to ensure that did not happen here,” his spokesman, James Slack, told reporters on Tuesday. “The prime minister wants no complacency from the public.”
Hancock took up the theme, saying that evidence from Bolton had shown an increase in infection rates in the young -- who could then infect their parents and grandparents.
The Covid-19 transmission rate has risen above the threshold which the government uses to consider quarantine requirements for travelers from other countries.
New Rules
Johnson is seeking at all costs to avoid a second national lockdown after the first one, which began in March, plunged the economy into its deepest recession in at least a century and pushed the national debt above 2 trillion pounds ($2.6 trillion) for the first time.
More than 190 government measures in response to the pandemic have a total cost of 210 billion pounds, with 70 billion of that spent so far, the National Audit Office said in an estimate published on Tuesday.
England and Wales Deaths Run Over Average For Third Week
Slack said the government will “not hesitate” to take further steps to contain the virus, though he declined to comment on specific measures.
Even with the rise in cases, the government is still trying to encourage people back to what ministers describe as “Covid-secure” workplaces to help the economy to rebound. But central to that strategy is the Covid-19 testing program, which is also coming under pressure just as it’s needed to get on top of local outbreaks.
Sarah-Jane Marsh, director of testing at NHS Test and Trace, apologized on Tuesday after people struggled to book appointments, blaming a bottleneck at laboratories.
‘Critical Pinch-Point’
“All of our testing sites have capacity, which is why they don’t look overcrowded, it’s our laboratory processing that is the critical pinch-point,” she said on Twitter. “We are doing all we can to expand quickly.”
The issue of testing has dogged the government’s response since the early days of the pandemic, when a lack of capacity forced ministers to halt community tests -- a decision officials have since said contributed to the U.K. suffering the worst death toll in Europe.
Despite building up capability over the summer, availability of tests is still having an impact across government departments. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps acknowledged in the House of Commons on Monday that a shortage meant officials can’t use testing to shorten quarantine requirements -- a key demand from the travel industry to tackle a slump in demand.
“Pressure on testing is very real,” Shapps told MPs. “I’m not sure we should be prioritizing holiday-makers returning to the testing system over, for example, children going back to school. The simple solution is of course to create more testing.”
‘Bumpy Ride’
Late Monday, Jonathan Van Tam, England’s deputy chief medical officer, urged the public to refocus on efforts to stop the spread of the virus to prevent “a bumpy ride over the next few months.”
The seven-day rate of new cases in the U.K. has risen to 21.3 per 100,000 people, he said, just over the threshold of 20 cases per 100,000 the government uses to help assess whether to impose quarantine rules for other countries.
Van Tam also said that while the U.K.’s hospitalization and death rates remain comparatively low, the experience of other countries shows infections among young people are likely to filter through to older generations, who are more at risk.
“People have relaxed too much, now is the time for us to re-engage, and to realize that this a continuing threat to us,” he told broadcasters.
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.