SAGE expert warns of 'human disaster' unless there is a full New Year lockdown: Fears whole of Britain is heading for Tier 4 as new variant is found everywhere
- England was put on notice for New Year lockdown last night amid warnings of mutant strain spreading rapidly
- Chris Whitty has reportedly warned that the number of Covid patients in hospital on course to match April
- Sir Patrick Vallance said measures would likely 'need to be increased' because the mutation was everywhere
- Downing Street tried to play down suggestions that a third lockdown to control the coronavirus was imminent
Britain faces a 'human disaster' unless ministers impose 'stricter' rules, one of the Government's scientific advisers has warned amid the looming threat of a full New Year lockdown in England and warnings that the mutant strain of Covid has spread across the entire country.
Professor Robert West, who sits on SAGE's behaviour science panel, said the Government's current methods were unlikely to contain the spread of Covid-19. He argued the UK needed to bolster social distancing rules and build a test, travel, isolate and support programme similar to ones seen in East Asia.
Professor West, a psychologist at University College London, added: 'It sounds expensive but the alternative could well be a catastrophic collapse in confidence in the country's ability to control the virus and the economic, human and social disaster that would follow.'
England was put on notice for a New Year lockdown last night. Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said it was likely that measures would 'need to be increased' in areas outside London and the South East, which are in the new lockdown-style Tier Four, because the fast-spreading Covid variant is 'everywhere'.
Home Secretary Priti Patel added to the fears today, confirming that more areas will be plunged into the toughest tier if coronavirus outbreaks aren't kept under control and refusing to rule out another national shutdown. She told Sky News: 'If the virus continues to spread then we will take stronger measures because at the end of the day our objective is to save lives and to keep people safe.'
The Mail understands Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty has warned the Prime Minister the number of patients in hospital with coronavirus is on course to match the April peak by New Year's Eve – and will continue increasing in January.
It was also claimed today that Number 10 was given dire projections early in December, before the mutation was spotted, that health bosses would diagnose 700,000 Covid cases a week in mid-February without tougher action - around three times as many as being recorded currently. Advisers also warned of up to 20,000 weekly hospital admissions and 5,000 deaths, telling ministers the outlook was 'terrible'.
Downing Street yesterday tried to play down suggestions that a third national lockdown was imminent, but Sir Patrick said the new strain, which is thought to spread up to 70 per cent more easily, was already present 'around the country'.
He added: 'It's localised in some places but we know there are cases everywhere, so it's not as though we can stop this getting into other places.' Cases of the mutated strain of Covid have already been seen in Wales and Scotland and there are fears it could be spreading within Northern Ireland.
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