Coronavirus UK: Van-Tam says nationwide lockdown ‘inappropriate’

England’s deputy chief medical officer has slapped down calls for a national ‘circuit-breaker’ lockdown to wrestle down the surge in coronavirus cases.

Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said imposing harsh restrictions in low-infection areas would not curb spread of the disease in hotspots such as the North West.  

Flanking Boris Johnson at a Downing Street press briefing tonight, he stressed that a circuit-breaker is not ‘consistent with the epidemiological picture’.  

The Prime Minister has resisted demands from Labour to follow Wales and Northern Ireland into a nationwide lockdown and is pressing ahead with a localised strategy.

Sage scientists also recommended ministers introduce a circuit-breaker to suppress the virus. 

But Prof Van-Tam appeared to row in behind the PM this evening and, after showing a series of maps highlighting the varying rates of infection across the country, stressed the evidence did not support a blanket national approach.

Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said imposing harsh restrictions in low-infection areas would not curb spread of the disease in hotspots such as the North West

Flanking Boris Johnson at a Downing Street press briefing tonight, he stressed that a circuit-breaker is not 'consistent with the epidemiological picture'

Flanking Boris Johnson at a Downing Street press briefing tonight, he stressed that a circuit-breaker is not ‘consistent with the epidemiological picture’

He said: ‘We are trying to walk a very fine line between getting the virus under control in areas where it is out of control and incurring the minimum amount of economic damage in doing so. In areas where it is out of control hard measures are needed.

‘But do I think right now it is appropriate to insist on those similar hard measures in, for example, the South West of England or Kent, where levels of the disease are very, very much lower than in the North of England – the national firebreak you talked about? No, I don’t think that is right.

‘I don’t think that is consistent with the epidemiological picture that we are seeing.’

Imposing the harshest restrictions needed in areas such as Liverpool and Manchester on low-infection places such as Cornwall and East Anglia would be ‘inappropriate’, he added.

His comments appeared to break ranks with fellow Sage scientists who called on the Government to usher in a short circuit-breaker.

Minutes from a September 21 meeting showed that the group advised ministers to pursue such action. 

It was seized upon by Sir Keir Starmer who called on the Government to impose a nationwide lockdown.

But his demands were flatly rejected by the PM, who is sticking with his tiered approach of bracketing regions into medium, high and very high alert levels. 

However, tonight Prof Van-Tam, often referred to by his initials JVT, did warn that ‘we may have to push on the pedal a little harder’ to get the R rate under control.’ 

Prof Stephen Powis did warn that Liverpool University Hospitals are expecting higher numbers of Covid patients by Wednesday than they had during the peak of the first wave in April

Prof Stephen Powis did warn that Liverpool University Hospitals are expecting higher numbers of Covid patients by Wednesday than they had during the peak of the first wave in April

The daily number of coronavirus cases, counted by the date specimens were taken, has eased in key cities over recent days

The daily number of coronavirus cases, counted by the date specimens were taken, has eased in key cities over recent days 

His concerns were echoed by Professor Stephen Powis, national medical director of NHS England, who said: ‘The last thing we want to do is eat into the capacity that we have in hospitals that we use to treat other conditions.’

Prof Powis did warn that Liverpool University Hospitals are expecting higher numbers of Covid patients by Wednesday than they had during the peak of the first wave in April.

And he said that at the current rate of growth in Manchester, the number of patients in hospital with Covid-19 could reach peak pandemic levels in a fortnight. 

But he expressed concern for the rate of change in infections among the over-60s across the nation.

‘I really want to emphasise that it is the over-60s that really worries us most because these are the people who become severely ill with Covid-19, they are more likely to be admitted to hospital, if they are admitted to hospital they stay in hospital for longer and sadly they are more difficult to save,’ he said.

He said that infections among younger people are now penetrating those older age groups.

‘This means that the hospital admissions and the deaths linked to those cases are now baked in for the next two to three weeks,’ he added.

Prof Van-Tam continued: ‘Pretty much everywhere in England is now heating up to some extent and we are trying to walk a very fine line between getting the virus under control in areas where it is out of control and incurring the minimum amount of economic damage in doing so.

‘It is clear that in the areas that are out of control, hard measures are needed.’

But he said that insisting the same measures should be put in place in areas where levels of disease are much lower would be inappropriate.

Prof Van-Tam added: ‘We just can’t afford just to let our elderly die.

‘And we can’t afford to allow our NHS to be completely consumed by looking after Covid, so it can’t do its other businesses as usual.

‘So we’ll have to take as tough measures as are necessary to stop that.

‘We’re running now with the brakes partially on – and the R is 1.3 to 1.5, according to the latest estimates – so we can’t take the brake off on this, and we may have to push on the pedal a little harder to get it back under control.’

He said that he did expect death rates to ‘continue upwards’.

Prof Powis said: ‘There is variation around the country and that is reflected in the number of patients we see in hospital.

‘For example, there are more patients in hospital in Greater Manchester at the moment than there are in hospitals in the entire south east and south west of the country.’

He added: ‘We can all play a part, it’s for everybody in the public to comply with the measures to reduce the spread of the virus and that will then reduce hospital admissions.

‘It will benefit not only people with Covid but other patients who don’t have Covid because the last thing we want to do is eat into the capacity that we have in hospitals that we use to treat other conditions.’

Prof Powis said the number of patients in hospitals in Greater Manchester doubled in the last two weeks, and if it doubles again, hospital admissions in the region could be similar to the peak in April.

‘In two weeks’ time, we could well be seeing, at the current rate of rise, the sort of numbers of patients in Greater Manchester that we saw at the peak in April,’ he said.

Prof Powis added: ‘I expect that Liverpool University Hospitals will have as many patients or more patients by tomorrow with Covid in their hospitals than they had at the peak in April.

‘And I think that shows just how fast we can see infection rates and hospital admissions rise, if we don’t get this under control.

‘So it’s really critical for everybody to comply with these measures to maintain social distancing and to ensure quite simply that the virus doesn’t have a chance to spread.’