England’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty claimed this evening that the UK is “past the peak” of the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
At this evenings Downing Street press conference Prof Whitty was asked if he believed the country was passed the worse of the virus’ second wave? Responding cautiously he said: “Most of my colleagues think we are past the peak.
“That doesn’t mean you can never have another peak, but at this point in time, providing people continue to follow the guidelines, we’re on a downward slope of cases, hospitalisations and deaths in all four nations of the United Kingdom.
“So I think, we do think, at this point, this peak at least, we are past.”
Prof Whitty also said that while the number of people in hospital with coronavirus has “quite noticeably” reduced, it is still above that of the first peak in April last year.
“The number of people in hospital with COVID has now gone down from its peak, quite noticeably. But as the prime minister said, there are still a very large number of people in hospital, and more people than there were in the first peak in April last year.
“So this is still a very major problem – but it is one that is heading the right way.”
He also stated that the number of Covid-19 related deaths would “stay high for quite some time”.
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