Second UK lockdown not ruled out

LONDON: Britain’s health minister said yesterday that Covid19 was accelerating across the country, with hospital admissions doubling every eight days, but refused to say whether or not another national lockdown would be imposed next month.

The United Kingdom has reported the fifthlargest number of deaths from Covid19 in the world, after the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.

Asked repeatedly by Sky News about the prospect of a second national lockdown next month, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said that a lockdown was a last resort, but that the Government would do whatever it takes to tackle the virus.

‘‘The number of people in hospital is doubling every eight days or so . . . we will do what it takes to keep people safe,’’ Hancock said. ‘‘We keep these things under review.’’

Asked about a second lockdown, he said: ‘‘I can’t give you that answer now.’’

Prime Minister Boris Johnson was criticised by opposition politicians for his initial response to the outbreak and the Government has struggled to ensure sufficient testing in recent weeks.

Covid19 cases started to rise again in Britain in September, with between 3000 and 4000 positive tests recorded daily in the last week, but that is still some way behind France and its more than 10,000 cases a day.

There were 3395 new cases of Covid19 reported yesterday, while Thursday saw the highest daily number since May, although many more tests are being carried out.

There were 236,219 tests processed in the latest daily figures, compared to about 70,000 in early May.

In total, 381,614 people have tested positive for Covid19 in Britain, and there have been 41,705 deaths under the Government’s accounting method.

Britain’s Government acknowledged problems in its Covid19 testing system yesterday as soaring demand met with worsening turnaround times and availability during a spike in infections.

Only 14% of covid test results in England came back in 24 hours last week, a sharp fall from 32% the week before,