Glimmer of hope as lockdown is working
THE number of coronavirus deaths in Britain has passed 5,000 – but the rate is rising slower than expected, experts said yesterday.
The latest daily toll of victims dying in hospital was 439, in the period from 5pm to Saturday to 5pm on Sunday. It took the total to 5,373 but was almost a third less than the 621 new deaths reported up to Saturday evening.
It was also far fewer than the 708 fatalities announced in the 24 hours to Friday night.
The number of new confirmed cases also fell, with 3,802 more people testing positive, compared with 5,903 the day before. The total is now 51,608.
Prof Dame Angela McLean, chief scientific adviser to the Ministry of Defence, insisted the number of hospital admissions was not as high as it would have been without the lockdown.
She said: “The efforts all of us are making to stay at home and save lives are working.
“But the big question is: is the virus spread slowing down enough to make hospital admissions stabilise and then even fall? Having risen very steadily up until around about April 1, they’re now starting to show a more complicated behaviour and starting, we hope, to slow down.
“But really it is too soon to see the effects of the big changes we all made to our lives.”
Prof Karol Sikora, dean of medicine at the University of Buckingham, said: “This fall is potentially significant.
“Any news with fewer people dying is good, but if we continue to see this downward trend over a number of days there is a chance the lockdown has been more successful than we hoped.
“Let’s see. Stay calm and stay inside – it’s working.”
The UK figures came as Austria unveiled plans to start easing lockdown measures next week by allowing smaller shops to reopen. Germany has drawn up a list of steps – including mandatory mask-wearing in public and limits on gatherings – for a phased return to normal life after its lockdown is scheduled to end on April 19.
In Britain 17,911 people have now been hospitalised with coronavirus, up from around 13,000 on April 2. In England, the latest 403 people to die were aged between 35 and 106. Just over half of the total 4,897 fatalities have been people aged 80 and over, NHS England said.
It added that 1,947 victims were 60-79, 353 were 40-59, 38 were 20-39 and five were just 19 years old or under. London again recorded the highest number of deaths at 129, followed by the Midlands with 75.
West Midlands mayor Andy Street said while there is a “huge challenge” ahead for the region, which recorded a higher coronavirus death toll than London at the end of last week, it is ready.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today
show: “All of our hospitals have prepared well, have capacity, so the reassuring thing for citizens is that at least there is available and appropriate medical care should they need it.”
Meanwhile, Health Secretary Matt Hancock again appealed for coronavirus patients to sign up for research trials. The Government wants them to test the effectiveness of malaria, HIV and steroid drugs against the virus.
Mr Hancock, who has had coronavirus, shared a video of himself after having a blood sample taken. Holding a cotton wool pad against his arm, he said: “Absolutely completely painless, having a bit of blood taken in order to participate in the research trials to find out more about this disease.
“If you’re asked to participate, I really recommend you do because you’ll be helping to play your part in getting this country through this terrible disease.”