England could be set for a three-week lockdown as PM to give a statement

Prime Minister Boris Johnson who has previously stated that he will follow the science, has been urged to introduce an immediate circuit breaker lockdown across England.

Leading scientists are warning that the new three tier system is not enough, and the government must go further to reduce the spread of the virus.

Scientists from the Independent SAGE back a nationwide circuit breaker lockdown which should replicate the same measures as seen in the spring.

The lockdown will last for two to three weeks with the closure of leisure, hospitality sectors, non-essential shops to close, with businesses, schools and universities.

The former chief scientific adviser Sir David King has set out a six-week “emergency plan” which will bring the daily coronavirus cases down to below 5,000.

This comes as new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has revealed that almost 28,000 people were infected every day during the first week of October.

Hospital admissions are soaring the death rate is getting higher each day which could reach between 240 to 690 a day within the next week, scientists are warning.

Professor Christina Pagel of University College London said, “Cases, hospitalisations and deaths are rising across England.

“The tiered system will not be enough to reverse growth.

“Despite four weeks of living under “tier 2” type restrictions in many areas and three weeks of “tier 1” restrictions elsewhere, cases continued to increase rapidly everywhere.”

Professor Pagel added, “Agreeing with SAGE, we believe a sharp national circuit breaker for 2-3 weeks followed by 3-4 weeks of continuing restrictions is needed to stop the current wave in its tracks, preventing tens of thousands of new cases and thousands of hospital stays.

“This will buy us precious time to build a public health and social scaffolding to support easing restrictions and restarting our lives.

“We must not waste this time.”

In under seven days scientists warn that a “substantial proportion” of cases will be asymptomatic, and that cases are doubling in under a week.

They are urging Johnson to sort out the Find, Test, Trace, Isolate & Support (FTTIS), which is failing.

The panel of Independent SAGE scientists have outlined a blueprint to the current approach.

The blueprint says, “National and regional lockdowns and other large scale restrictions are blunt tools; testing and tracing should be a targeted, precise system.

“Done well, it allows us to identify sources of outbreaks and isolate individuals and those they have been in close contact with, rather than entire populations.

“Without an effective FTTIS system, the government has little choice but to rely on imprecise and damaging local and national lockdowns to prevent surges in infection.

“The urgent reform of FTTIS is the most important economic and health priority for the government and the country right now.”