England's new wave of coronavirus could put 2,000 people in hospital every day for six weeks, the government’s chief scientific modeller has said.
Professor Graham Medley, chairman of the Sage modelling subgroup Spi-M, said that the latest spike in cases threatened to place a “considerable burden” on the NHS. The so-called exit wave will not be constrained by lockdown rules, meaning that the hospital admission rate may be stubbornly high for some time, he said.
Yesterday Boris Johnson approved lifting the last remaining lockdown restrictions from next Monday while warning the country not to rush back to normality. The prime minister said that there was considerable uncertainty about how it would affect the spread of serious cases; the worst-case scenario under goverment modelling is 4,800
