London should enter Tier 3 to avoid surge in Covid deaths says expert

London should go into Tier 3 Covid restrictions in the next 48 hours to stop deaths surging over Christmas.

London should go into Tier 3 Covid restrictions in the next 48 hours to stop deaths surging over Christmas, according to an expert in the field.

London Covid cases rising sharply

Covid cases are increasing across large parts of London according to stats from Public Health England (PHE). Former regional director of public health for North West England and author of Blinded by Corona, Professor John Ashton, stressed that urgent action was needed.

In an interview with the Guardian, he said: “[The government] needs to decide in the next 48 hours whether to move London into Tier 3 otherwise they really risk a terrible situation for London, with deaths going up during the Christmas period. They might have to go to complete lockdown.”

London regional director for Public Health England, Professor Kevin Fenton, admitted that he was also concerned by the figures saying:

“The latest data shows case rates are on the increase again in most London boroughs, including in the at-risk over 60s.

We’ll need to work together to prevent a big surge in cases in London ahead of the festive period so we must all do our bit and limit the spread over the coming days and weeks.”

The seven-day case rate for London went up over five consecutive days, PHE announced. Two boroughs (Barking and Dagenham) were double that of London’s average and 20 of the 32 boroughs exceeded the average figure for England of 149 cases per 100,000. Certain tier 3 areas have lower numbers than London, such as Bristol which has a rate of 141 per 100,000 population.

People in London must obey the rules or risk being placed into a Tier 3 lockdown, says Sadiq Khan’s spokesperson:

“If we begin to act like this virus has gone away we could see a devastating further surge in cases at a time of year when our NHS is already under enough pressure. The number-one way to look out for our loved ones and support local businesses in this festive season is to follow the rules and do all we can to avoid going back into tougher restrictions, later this month or any time in the future.”