Coronavirus: UK Outbreak ‘Starting to Slow’ But Deaths to Keep Rising
The UK’s coronavirus outbreak looks to be slowing down because of the Government’s unprecedented decision to put Britain in lockdown, one of Number 10’s leading experts said today.
Professor Neil Ferguson claims to have detected ‘early signs’ that the spread of the life-threatening infection was being curbed by the draconian measure, with the rate of increase in hospital admissions easing.
But Professor Ferguson – one of the authors of a bleak Imperial College London report that convinced Downing Street to ramp up its efforts to stop the crisis after warning that 250,000 Brits could die under a controversial plan to build-up ‘herd immunity’ – warned deaths are still likely to rise sharply as they lag two or three weeks behind the new infections.
He also suggested that up to three per cent of the UK – around two million people – might already have been infected, and said the figure could be as high as five per cent in London.
