Coastal MPs’ fear of a second spike
BRITAIN’s beaches may have to shut because of a second coronavirus wave, coastal MPs have warned.
Sun-seekers packed sandy bays to enjoy the warm weather last week with many not distancing properly.
It comes as Health Secretary Matt Hancock clashed with infectious diseases expert Professor John Edmunds, who suggested the UK should have had the lockdown earlier.
Sheryll Murray, the Conservative MP for South East Cornwall, said: “We see waves at the beach but the wave I do not want to see is a second virus wave caused by too many people coming to our fabulous coast.”
Tory MP for St Austell and Newquay Steve Double said:“If you arrive and a beach looks full then please don’t go onto it.”
Meanwhile Prof Edmunds said the UK should have imposed restrictions in early March.
Prof Edmunds, who attends meetings of the Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), told the BBC: “We should have gone into lockdown earlier. I think that has cost a lot of lives unfortunately.”
But Mr Hancock replied: “We took the right decisions at the right time. There’s a broad range of scientific opinion on Sage.
“We were guided by the science as expressed to ministers through the chief medical officer and the chief scientific adviser.”
But he said local lockdowns could be introduced to stamp out coronavirus flare-ups.
The Health Secretary said that hospitals, care homes and their surrounds are most likely to be the focus of localised curbs.
Shutting down whole towns and cities is not a priority, he said. It comes after figures showed infections rising in the North West and South West.
Mr Hancock told the BBC it is not the Government’s plan to lock down whole cities, pointing to the case of Weston-superMare where a spike in infections was limited to a hospital without affecting the town.
He said: “The starting point is much more localised – to try and find a localised area within a city.
“The focus is to get as local as possible, as early as possible.”