A British government adviser is calling for a new nationwide lockdown amid an “eye-watering” resurgence of new coronavirus cases in the UK.
“I can see very little way of getting on top of this without some kind of a circuit-breaker,” John Bell, a professor at Oxford University, told BBC Radio. “I think it’s going to be pretty hard to get on top of this just biting around the edges.”
Bell, who has advised UK officials on COVID-19 screenings, suggested a two-week lockdown of schools and rigorous testing could help slow the recent spike.
England has seen an increase of an average of 27,900 new cases daily throughout the past week, according to the Office for National Statistics’ Infection Survey.
“The numbers are actually pretty eye-watering in some bits of the country,” Bell said.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson — who has favored a regional approach to tamping down on the virus as opposed to nationwide lockdowns — said Friday he’ll avoid another national quarantine “if at all possible.”
“Closing businesses in Cornwall where transmission is low will not cut transmission in Manchester,” Johnson said.
With Post wires
