The UK is now at the deadliest point of the coronavirus pandemic, with figures higher than last year, England chief Chris Whitty said yesterday.
‘We need to be very clear that we are now at the worst point of this epidemic for the UK. “In the future we will have the vaccine, but the numbers are currently higher than in the previous peak – – a little further,” Whitty told the BBC.
He said he expected the next few weeks to be the “most dangerous time” before the vaccines rolled out across the country could have an impact. There are currently more than 30,000 people in the hospital and the number is still rising, Whitty added.
We are now in a situation where about 1 in 50 people in the UK are infected and in London about 1 in 30, [in] parts of London it is about 1 in 20, so there is a very high chance that if you meet someone unnecessarily, they will have Covid. ”
Whitty’s warning comes when seven mass vaccination centers are opened in England, as efforts are still underway to sharpen the numbers receiving the shot. People over the age of 80 and health and social care workers living near the sites are offered the opportunity to book appointments.
According to Vaccine Minister Nadhim Zahawi, the UK wants to vaccinate around 15 million of society’s most vulnerable members by mid-February.
“It really is a race against time,” he told the BBC’s Radio 4 program.
“As soon as we open more vaccination centers next week and the week after that and of course the pharmacies in the community … no one should be more than a radius of ten kilometers from a premises.”
British Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the BBC on Sunday that all adults in the UK would be vaccinated by the autumn. Hancock will hold a press conference later Monday to announce the delivery plan.