Expert warns Covid-19 peak has not hit with fears of new epicenters

Professor Yvonne Doyle, the Medical Director at Public Health England warned on Sunday’s Downing Street press briefing that the coronavirus peak has not yet hit.

She warned that fears are growing as there have been an increase of coronavirus cases in some parts of the England, which could become new epicentres.

She said that North West Yorkshire and the North East have seen a spike in infected people being treated in hospitals for coronavirus.

However, she said that cases in London are now starting to stabilise, as Professor Doyle said, “on the next slide, we can see people in hospital beds with Covid-19.”

She said, “Here we can see that the trend has been increasing for London but now we are beginning to see London stabilising, dipping, rising, dipping again.

“So probably a more stable pattern for London.

“On the other hand, for Great Britain, we do see other regions now beginning to increase.

“Particularly the North West, Yorkshire and the North East.

“It is very important that the message about staying home and social distancing is adhered to because we are certainly not past this virus damage yet.”

The UK now has the sixth largest cases across the world, as 84,279 tested positive across the country. This is a rise of 4,394, which has fallen by 839 cases in 24 hours.

Sir Jeremy Farrar, director of The Wellcome Trust, says it’s possible the UK could end up with the worst coronavirus death rate in Europe.

He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show that the “Numbers in the UK have continued to go up.

“And yes, the UK is likely to be certainly one of the worst, if not the worst affected country in Europe.”