A patient is admitted to Royal London Hospital in London during England’s third national closure to curb the spread of coronavirus on 10 January 2021.
Aaron Chown / PA Images via Getty Images
LONDON – British medical director Chris Whitty warned on Monday that the “next few weeks will be the worst weeks” of the coronavirus pandemic for the UK’s National Health Service.
Whitty spoke to the BBC, noting that there were now more than 30,000 people hospitalized with the virus across England alone.
The number of people who have died across the UK exceeded 80,000 over the weekend and reached 81,567, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. On Friday, London Mayor Sadiq Khan declared a major incident due to the rapid spread of Covid-19 in the UK capital, and one in 30 Londoners said they had the virus.
Whitty said people therefore needed to “double” compliance with public health restrictions, as it would take several weeks for the coronavirus vaccines that are currently being rolled out to take effect.
“Any unnecessary contact you have with someone is a potential link in a transmission chain that will lead to a vulnerable person,” Whitty said.
Vaccine deployment minister Nadhim Zahawi said in a statement released on Sunday that some 1.5 million Britons had now received the Covid-19 blow. He promised that by the end of this week there would be more than 1,000 doctor-run centers, as well as 223 hospitals, seven large vaccination centers and the first wave of 200 community pharmacies.
In a question and answer session on BBC radio on Monday morning, Whitty said “I think we were all very relieved” that the government was reversing its decision to ease restrictions for five days to let people go. gather during Christmas, in light of news about a new variant of the coronavirus.