A patient is taken to the Royal London Hospital in London during England’s third national blockade to contain the spread of the coronavirus, Sunday, January 10, 2021.
Aaron Chown / PA Images via Getty Images
LONDON – England’s medical director Chris Whitty warned on Monday that “the next few weeks will be the worst” of the coronavirus pandemic for the UK’s National Health Service.
Whitty was speaking to the BBC, pointing out that there were now more than 30,000 people hospitalized with the virus in England alone.
The number of people across the UK who died of the virus reached 80,000 over the weekend, reaching 81,567, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. On Friday, London’s mayor Sadiq Khan declared a major incident due to the rapid spread of Covid-19 in the UK capital, with one in 30 Londoners carrying the virus.
Whitty said people therefore need to “double” adherence to public health restrictions, as it would take several weeks for the ongoing coronavirus vaccines to take effect.
“Any unnecessary contact you have with someone is a potential link in a chain of transmission that will lead to a vulnerable person,” said Whitty.
Vaccine Outreach Minister Nadhim Zahawi said in a statement released on Sunday that about 1.5 million Britons had already received the Covid-19 jab. He promised that by the end of this week there would be more than 1,000 websites run by doctors, as well as 223 hospital sites, seven major vaccination centers and the first batch of 200 community pharmacies.
In a question and answer session on BBC radio on Monday morning, Whitty said that “I think we were all very relieved” that the government reversed its decision to ease the restrictions for five days to allow people to meet in the Natal, in the light of news about a new variant of the coronavirus.