UK ‘not out of the woods yet’ and pandemic ‘has got a long way to run’, Whitty warns
The UK is “not out of the woods yet” when it comes to coronavirus and people should approach the end of most restrictions on Monday with caution, England’s chief medical officer has warned.
Professor Chris Whitty said the number of people in hospital with COVID-19 is doubling around every three weeks and could hit “quite scary numbers” if that trend is sustained.
“I don’t think we should underestimate the fact that we could get into trouble again surprisingly fast,” he told a webinar hosted by the Science Museum.
He added: “We are not by any means out of the woods yet on this, we are in much better shape due to the vaccine programme, and drugs and a variety of other things.
“But this has got a long way to run in the UK, and it’s got even further to run globally.”
Professor Whitty said that the key thing after 19 July was “to take things incredibly slowly”, adding that he expects most people will still take precautions.
“If you look over what people have done, and in fact if you look at what people intend to do now, people have been incredibly good at saying, ‘I may be a relatively low-risk, but people around me are at high-risk, and I’m going to modify my behaviours’,” he said.
Looking ahead, Professor Whitty said that in the medium-term COVID-19 could mutate into a “vaccine escape variant” that could take the UK “some of the way backwards” to the worst days of the pandemic.
“The further out in time we go, the more tools we have at our disposal from science, the less likely that is but you can never take that possibility completely off the table,” he said.
“But you know, science has done a phenomenal job so far and it will continue to do so.”
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‘Highly probable’ worst of pandemic behind us
Professor Whitty’s comments come after Boris Johnson claimed it is “highly probable” the worst of the pandemic is over – on the day the UK recorded its highest number of daily cases for six months.
The prime minister urged people not to “throw caution to the winds” when most legal restrictions in England end on Monday, as he acknowledged there would be more hospital admissions and deaths in the “difficult days and weeks ahead”.
Latest figures show there had been a further 48,553 cases of COVID-19 as of 9am on Thursday.
A further 63 people have died within 28 days of testing positive for the virus.
A total of 49 deaths were recorded on Wednesday, making this increase the highest day-on-day rise since 26 March.
Mr Johnson has said recently that daily cases could reach 50,000 by Monday, while Health Secretary Sajid Javid has spoken of case numbers topping 100,000 this summer.
But speaking on Thursday, he said the success of the UK’s vaccination programme, which has seen more than two-thirds of adults receive two doses, meant the government could go ahead with step four of its roadmap out of restrictions.
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‘Don’t have a great jubilee’ on 19 July – PM
“If we are careful and if we continue to respect this disease and its continuing menace then it is highly probable – almost all the scientists are agreed on this – the worst of the pandemic is behind us,” the PM said.
“There are difficult days and weeks ahead as we deal with the current wave of the Delta variant and there will be sadly more hospitalisation and more deaths but with every day that goes by we build higher the wall of vaccine-acquired immunity.”
Monday’s lifting of most coronavirus rules will see ministers seek to shift the emphasis from government diktat to people weighing up risks and taking their own decisions.
A range of guidance has been published ahead of 19 July, but ministers have been accused of sending “mixed messages” to people and businesses about what they should do beyond that date, in particular concerning face masks.
Despite the legal requirement to wear face masks on public transport and in shops being lifted, guidance for businesses issued on Wednesday states the government still “expects and recommends that people continue to wear a face covering in crowded, enclosed spaces”.
Critics have said the guidelines are a “recipe for chaos”, but the PM said businesses were “perfectly capable” of understanding new guidance on face coverings and guidelines.
“We are moving away from legal compulsion but we are saying that of course the pandemic is not over and sadly people have to remain cautious,” he said.
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Passengers have told of their ordeal after being stranded for hours at the Port of Dover as delays triggered a “critical incident”.
One woman told Sky News she had been waiting on a bus for “12 hours already”, while concerned parents reported on Twitter that their children had been stranded for longer than that, delaying the start of their school trips.
The port said coach processing times inside the terminal are “improving” and are now between one to hours, with one hour waits for cars.
In a statement, it blamed “lengthy French border processes” and the “sheer volume” of traffic on the first day of the school Easter holidays.
Port chief executive Doug Bannister told Sky News that although plans for the holiday period were in place months ago it had 15% more coaches than anticipated and bad weather on Friday caused further delays.
He said that with only half the number of coaches booked in for Sunday, he hopes the backlog will clear “overnight or into tomorrow morning”.
Rosie, a woman travelling on a coach with her family, said they were “left overnight” with “no idea how long we’ll be here”.
Lorry queues near Dover on Saturday morning
“We’ve been waiting for 12 hours already and it’ll be at least another two or three before we get on the ferry,” she told Sky News on Saturday morning.
“It’s very frustrating. I’m an environmental campaigner, I forced my family to get on this bus instead of flying.
“It’s supposed to be an easy overnight trip, but it’s absolute carnage and there’s no excuse for it at all.”
Up to 40 coaches stranded in parks overnight
Mr Bannister said between 20 and 40 coaches were rediverted to local coach parks overnight.
“We started calling them through in the early hours of the morning as soon as there was space,” he said.
Simon Lyons, who is taking his son’s football team to Amsterdam, has been stuck in the coach queue at Dover for “a couple of hours”.
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‘There is a lack of French border staff’
He told Sky News the group of teenagers are 48th in the queue to be checked, but there are currently no ferries departing due to the build up of traffic.
“There’s a real lack of French border staff,” he said.
“We thought coach and ferry was the way to go, but the situation on the ground is not good.
“Speaking to the staff here and they say it’s entirely down to what happened with Brexit. Each individual passport needs to be individually stamped and that’s why it’s taking so long.”
One person posted on Twitter: “My children have been sat on their school coach overnight and are still awaiting news from P&O on when they can move from the buffer zone!”
While another wrote: “My daughter has been in a queue since midnight. Still no idea when the coach will be allowed to board.”
Asked whether the delays were the result of Brexit, Mr Bannister added: “It does make processing more challenging.”
Port staff ‘deeply frustrated’
The port – which declared the critical incident – said in a statement: “The Port of Dover is deeply frustrated by last night’s and this morning’s situation and particularly so on behalf of all the ferry operators’ coach passengers who have had to endure such a long wait at the port.
“Whilst freight and car traffic was processed steadily regardless of the additional challenging weather conditions and high seasonal volumes, coach traffic suffered significant delays due to lengthy French border processes and sheer volume.”
The port added that “additional coach bookings taken by ferry operators for Easter has impacted operations for the port”.
P&O Ferries said that after a two or three-hour wait, coach passengers will be “on the next crossing to Calais… as soon as you are through passport control”.
It added that it is providing refreshments to coach passengers who have been stuck at the cruise terminal for hours and also trying to get food and drink to people in the buffer zone.
The company blamed “the time it is taking to process each vehicle at French border controls” for the delays.
DFDS Seaways apologised for waits of “up to 120 minutes” for coaches and cars.
It said it is “operating a cross channel shuttle service” so “all passengers can be shipped on the first available departure upon arrival at check in”.
The company added in a tweet that traffic is “flowing freely” at Dover but “car traffic is very busy”.
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