Young people are too relaxed about social distancing and could endanger older relatives through complacency, Health Secretary Matt Hancock warned on Tuesday.
A sharp rise in infections has fueled fears the outbreak is slipping out of control in some parts of the country, and England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Van-Tam warned of a “creeping geographic trend.” Manchester, Glasgow and other areas of Scotland, and Caerphilly county in Wales have seen tighter restrictions reimposed.
Speaking on a BBC radio program aimed at younger audiences, Matt Hancock said:
Don’t kill your gran by catching coronavirus and then passing it on. And you can pass it on before you’ve had any symptoms at all.
Britain recorded close to 3,000 new cases on Sunday, and the same again on Monday. This is a sudden jump from numbers much closer to 1,000 for most of August, and the highest since May. Some 41,554 people have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 in Britain, the highest fatality count in Europe. In recent weeks, infection numbers had been lower than in several European neighbors.
Last week, the health secretary sounded more optimistic. The test-and-trace system, as well as other responses to the pandemic, were now “so good that the country could avoid a major resurgence in cases of the virus, as seen in countries such as France and Spain,” Hancock predicted.
Promoting the government’s planned new trial of mass weekly testing on a population-wide level, Hancock said that he remained “very worried” about an upsurge in cases, but the country was “in a better position than some.”
Britain has been gradually easing a relatively strict lockdown since early July, opening pubs, restaurants, shops and gyms, if social distancing is being observed.
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