On Saturday, a government adviser said that Britain could be moving too slowly to tackle the sharp rise in COVID-19 cases because of a lag between case numbers and deaths which means fatalities have remained relatively low.
Graham Medley, a professor of infectious disease modelling, said he worried the country could end up in a position it had tried to avoid.
“My concern is the lag, is the fact that we end up in a position that we didn’t intend to, either government or the population …, because the numbers of deaths at the moment look very low, even though, as scientists, we say look infections are increasing,” he told BBC Radio.
“And unfortunately, that lag means that we don’t act soon enough,” Medley, who attends the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) which advises government, said.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has imposed tougher restrictions in the last week to try to curb the spread of the virus, telling people to work from home if they can and ordering pubs and restaurants to close earlier.
Many politicians have questioned whether those measures go far enough, with the first minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, telling households they also cannot mix indoors. Medley said SAGE had not discussed what impact the policy of closing hospitality services earlier would have on infection rates.
Britain already has the highest death toll in Europe from COVID-19, at 41,936. While around 900 people died a day at the April peak of the pandemic, current death rates are around 30.
The Office for National Statistics said on Friday new cases in England had shot up to around 9,600 per day in the week to Sept. 19, up from around 6,000 the previous week.
Medley said that meant deaths would rise in three to four weeks to around 100 deaths a day. “And the things that we do now will not stop 100 people dying a day, but they will stop that progressing much higher,” he said.
Reported by Kate Holton
Sourced Reuters
For more Business news follow i-invest Online.
- Seven summer reads to elevate your leadership
This season’s standout business books offer fresh perspectives from leading academics, CEOs and industry pioneers on the future of leadership, talent and sustainable growth If you’re looking forward to taking a well-deserved break from your desk this summer, now’s the perfect time to catch up on those must-read business books everyone’s talking about. Whether you’re… Read more: Seven summer reads to elevate your leadership - Social businesses need better policy and support – not more bureaucracy
New research reveals how red tape, resource misuse and conflicting goals are stopping social businesses from providing sustainable regional value Social businesses are prevented from delivering sustainable regional value due to complex policies and unclear guidance from local authorities, unnecessary financial constraints, and resource misuse finds new research from Durham University Business School. The study provides a… Read more: Social businesses need better policy and support – not more bureaucracy - AI is not the disruption. Your operating model is
The five per cent of organisations capturing value from AI are not deploying tools faster – they are redesigning how work gets done, says Stuart J. Green A chief executive showed me her board pack: five AI pilots and a 12% margin target by 2026. I asked which pilots she had been inside, which workflows… Read more: AI is not the disruption. Your operating model is - AI is not one technology – and leaders should stop treating it that way
To prepare effectively for the future, Mehdi Paryavi argues that businesses should stop viewing AI as a single phenomenon and start focusing on agentic AI as distinct from today’s generative tools Reports about the AI boom are now your quotidian fare. You can easily find analysts proclaiming, “X percent of companies are now using AI,”… Read more: AI is not one technology – and leaders should stop treating it that way - Why the best sustainability investments don’t depend on customers caring
Consumer belief is the riskiest asset on the balance sheet, argue Goutam Challagalla and Frédéric Dalsace. The real question is whether customers would buy it anyway For more than a decade, ESG-linked funds and corporate sustainability strategies have run on the same quiet assumption: spend more on sustainability, and the market will eventually reward you… Read more: Why the best sustainability investments don’t depend on customers caring