Western Morning News (Saturday)
South West could face a ‘regional lockdown’ as R rate rises
GOVERNMENT scientific advisers believe the rate of coronavirus transmission - the R rate has not breached one across the UK, despite concerns about the North West and South West, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said.
In a suggestion that regional lockdowns are looking increasingly likely, Mr Hancock said the North West in particular represented a “challenge” that needed to be addressed.
It comes as he announced that all hospital visitors and outpatients in England will be required to wear face coverings from June 15, while all hospital staff will need to wear surgical masks.
Mr Hancock told the daily Downing Street briefing that new figures on the R confirm “there is a challenge in the North West of England to address and, to a lesser degree, in the South West of England.”
He said the Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (Sage) believes the R is below one across the UK but the Government wants to “increasingly have an approach in tackling local lockdowns where we spot a flare-up.”
Earlier, Sage acknowledged there might be some places in England where the R - which is the number of people an infected person passes the virus onto - is close to one, which if exceeded could see the virus spread exponentially. But the Government’s value remained between 0.7 and 0.9 for the UK as a whole, though the figure has a two to three week lag, meaning it does not account for the latest easing of the lockdown.
A separate report from Public Health England and Cambridge University, which estimates what the value is currently, put the North West on 1.01 and the South West on 1.00.
The figure was lowest in the Midlands at 0.9 and stood at 0.95 in London.
PHE medical director Dr Yvonne Doyle said: “Our estimates show that the regional R numbers have increased although they remain below one for most of England - this is to be expected as we gradually move out of lockdown. It is vital that everyone continues with social distancing, practising good hand hygiene and must remain at home and order a test if they have symptoms.”
PHE estimated there are 17,000 new infections each day in England, with a range being at between 11,000 and 25,000. But Office for National Statistics data put the new cases at 5,600 daily, down from around 8,000 a week ago. The PHE research warned that there is some evidence the value has risen in all regions, saying it was probably due to increasing mobility and mixing between households.
Announcing the new face covering policy for hospitals, Mr Hancock said the Government wanted to ensure that “even as the virus comes under control” hospitals are a place of “care and of safety”.