A taste of what to expect over the next six months came in today’s press conference with Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty and Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance. Following reports of plans in government for new national restrictions and a potential lockdown, the pair used their public address to provide an update of the latest coronavirus statistics. It did not make for pretty viewing.
Vallance said that if the rate of infection continues on its current trajectory without further restrictions the UK could see 50,000 new coronavirus cases a day by mid-October. This he argued ‘would be expected to lead to about 200 deaths per day’ a month after that.
Whitty didn’t have much in the way of more positive news. While there has previously been a localised approach, he said that the country has now reached the point by which ‘we’re seeing is a rate of increase across the great majority of the country’. He
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