The Health Secretary has warned that Covid cases could soar after all restrictions are lifted in England in two weeks time.
Doing the media round this morning Sajid Javid old BBC Radio 4’s Today programme infections could soar as high as 100,000.
By the time we get to the 19th, we would expect case numbers by then to be at least double what they are now, so around 50,000 new cases a day.
“As we ease and go into the summer, we expect them to rise significantly and they could go as high as 100,000 case numbers.
“We want to be very straightforward about this, about what we can expect in terms of case numbers.
“But what matters more than anything is hospitalisation and death numbers, and that is where the link has been severely weakened.”
On Sky News Javid said that the world can no longer think only about COVID-19 and ignore the other critical health issues, economic problems and education challenges that have build up during the pandemic
“We can’t live in a world where the only thing that we are thinking about is COVID – and not about all the other health problems, our economic problems, our education challenges and we have to make use of a vaccine that is thankfully working,”
“When I came into this department with a fresh set of eyes – it is shocking when you look at all the other health problems that have built up: Some 7 million people have not come forward during the pandemic for help from the NHS with their health problems.”
On the same programme Professor Neil Ferguson said the four-week delay to lifting coronavirus restrictions “has been worth it”.
“The modelling tended to indicate that there was a real benefit to the four-week delay we’re just coming to the end of now, in terms of topping up vaccination, getting second doses to people over the age of 40.I should say of everybody who has died in this pandemic in the UK, 99% of them have been over the age of 40.
“By the time we finally relax, nearly everybody in that age range will have had two doses, which gives a high level of protection.There are benefits going beyond that, there are still a few benefits but they’re more incremental.
“So I wouldn’t say it is a sweet spot but the four-week delay we have gone through has been worth it.”
While Chairman of the Commons Health Select Committee Jeremy Hunt has said he is “not opposed” to coronavirus restrictions being lifted.
The former health secretary told LBC: “I have been on the cautious side of this debate for the whole of the last year but I’m actually not opposed to what the Prime Minister is doing.
“The reason is because if you look at the data at the moment, the projected number of deaths from Covid going forward is less than a bad flu year.
“That’s not what’s happened up to now but I’m talking about going forward from now.
“If you’ve got the context where the death rate is lower than some diseases that we normally cope with, then I think it’s alright to change the social contract from compulsion to co-operation because we have to find a way of living with this virus.”
