Cases could reach 100,000 a day by August, says Health Secretary

The Health Secretary Sajid Javid has warned that he expects Covid cases to rise “significantly” which could be as “high as 100,000” a day.

On 2 January the country had 57,725 infections in one day and Javid predicts there will be 100,000 cases a day “as we ease – and go into the summer.”

The Health Secretary was asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme how many cases we could have a day by mid-August.

Javid said, “Because this is uncharted territory for any country in the world, as you go further out, week by week, the numbers in terms of projections are even less reliable.

“I said in parliament yesterday that by the time we get to the 19th, we would expect case numbers by then to be at least double what they are now, so around 50,000 a day.

“As we ease and go into the summer, we expect them to rise significantly and they could go as high as 100,000.

“We want to be very straightforward about this, about what we can expect in terms of case numbers.

“But what matters more than anything is hospitalisation and death numbers and that is where the link has been severely weakened.”

On Monday Javid was slammed by scientists over his plans to unlock England from the current restrictions, as the virus could run riot.

Professor Stephen Reicher from the University of St Andrews and sits on the Independent Sage group, who has advised Downing Street over the response to the pandemic has described Javid’s approach as “frightening.”

He warned that Javid’s emphasis over it is a “matter of personal choice” for the public to to decide what protections they need to make could be disastrous.

Professor Reicher warned on Twitter, “It is frightening to have a ‘Health’ Secretary who still thinks Covid is flu, who is unconcerned at levels of infection, who doesn’t realise that those who do best for health also do best for the economy, who wants to ditch all protections while only half of us are vaccinated.