New ‘drastic’ measures put in place to protect the public from the coronavirus pandemic could last ‘weeks to months,’ said England’s chief medical officer.
Professor Chris Whitty said the country needs to be prepared for ramped-up restrictions to last for a ‘prolonged period’ and efforts will be a ‘marathon not a sprint’. He added: ‘People should be thinking of a minimum of weeks to months and, depending how it goes, it may be longer.
‘It’s really important people realise they are in for the long haul on this. But this is really important, if we are to defend the ability of the NHS to treat people, if we are actually to minimise mortality, we have got to see this as a long game.’
It came as 18 more people died in Britain after testing positive for the virus, bringing the death toll to 53. The Department of Health confirmed another 171 people tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of infections to 1,543.
During a Downing Street press conference, the government announced its ‘national fightback’ against the quickly spreading pandemic, which includes telling the nation to stop all but essential contact. Boris Johnson urged all in the UK to avoid pubs, clubs and theatres, unnecessary travel, and to work from home if they can.
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Mr Johnson said elderly people and those with the most serious health conditions should ‘shield’ themselves for 12 weeks from this week. He also urged against unnecessary visits to care homes to stop to protect the vulnerable.
For the latest coronavirus updates and coverage in the UK and around the world click here.
He added: ‘This advice about avoiding all social contact is particularly important for people over 70, for pregnant women and for those with some health conditions.’
From tomorrow, mass gatherings will not be supported by emergency workers in the way that they are normally.
‘It is now clear that the peak of the epidemic is coming, faster in some parts of the country than in others,’ he said. ‘It looks as though London is a few weeks ahead.’ He said Londoners must ‘pay special attention to what we are saying about avoiding non-essential travel.’
Mr Whitty said experts had examined the proposals by looking at mathematical models and behavioural sciences to find the measures which were the most effective but also sustainable.
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‘This is going to go on for some time,’ said Prof Whitty. ‘We should not be under any illusions that “if we just do this for a couple of weeks that is sufficient”.
‘This is going to have to be a prolonged period.’
The Prime Minister said that according to the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) ‘it looks as though we are now approaching the fast growth part of the upward curve’ in the number of cases.
‘Without drastic action cases could double every five or six days,’ he said.
Professor Whitty said people taking measures to minimise social contact would help the NHS.
He said: ‘A significant number of other deaths, which if the NHS became overwhelmed in any of the four nations if the intensive care units got to the point when they were overwhelmed, then people would die from indirect deaths because they did not have the ability to get medical care.
‘And a lot of what we are trying to do is trying to reduce the chance that those indirect deaths might occur.’
He added that the measures had the capacity to ‘significantly to pull down the peak of this infection wave and therefore make it easier for the NHS and particularly the ventilation support to be able to cope with the wave that is heading its way’.
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‘People need to think through the practicalities of their own position,’ he added.
‘The reason for this is that they are helping to stop (coronavirus) being transmitted across the community.’
He added social restrictions would be ‘very difficult for people to maintain’ but they would be ‘doing it to protect the NHS from being overwhelmed’.
The press conference comes as the World Health Organisation urged countries to ‘test, test, test’ every suspected case of Covid-19 as it is impossible to ‘fight a fire blindfolded’.
However, the UK’s policy is to test only those in hospital already, or those at a care home or prison infected with the virus but Prof Whitty insisted that the UK’s testing regimen was robust.
He said there was ‘complete surveillance’ testing in intensive care, hospitals were also testing patients with pneumonia and GPs were testing in the community.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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March 17, 2020 at 01:29AM
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UK faces coronavirus restrictions lasting 'for months' - Metro.co.uk
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