During a Downing Street press conference on Wednesday, the Health Secretary warned the UK could see 100,000 cases a day, but a leading virologist has warned on Thursday that the UK is already close to 100,000 cases per day.
Edward Argar MP said the government believe that people should make their own decisions to make “educated judgements” when it comes to wearing face masks.
Despite what the experts are saying the government have said now is not the time to trigger Plan B even though cases are soaring.
Dr Chris Smith, from the University of Cambridge warned the UK is already close to 100,000 cases per day and Professor Adam Finn slammed the government as he said it is wrong to see the current death toll is acceptable.
Dr Smith told BBC Breakfast that around half of Covid cases are asymptomatic.
“So probably, with detected cases at 50,000, we’re probably already close to 100,000 cases a day anyway, we just don’t know about lots of them.
“We are looking very hard, we’re doing more than a million tests a day now, but probably we do have really high levels bordering on that sort of number at the moment.”
Dr Smith added, “The trend at the moment in cases is upwards, but the more reassuring trend for the moment is how many people are becoming severely unwell, how many people are losing their lives and that number, thankfully, does remain very, very low, and that’s a direct testimony to the performance of the vaccines.”
Professor Finn who is an expert in paediatrics, said 5m adults, mostly young adults, who have should now come forward if they have not had their vaccination.
He told LBC radio, “It’s the responsibility of adults to look after children by getting vaccinated and stopping spreading this virus around because there’s a lot more adults infecting children than there are children infecting adults.”
When he was asked if 100,000 cases a day should be seen as petrifying Professor Finn said, “Yes, it absolutely should.
“I mean we’re being told that somehow it’s OK because there’s only 150 to 200 deaths a day.
“Well, in two weeks, that’s the same number of people who died in the 9/11 attacks in the USA and that was enough to start global wars.
“It really isn’t OK to have this many people getting this infection and getting sick and dying. It’s a real big deal.
“And on top of all of the other struggles that we’ve got in the NHS, we really all need to be doing everything we can to bring these cases back down again, as indeed is happening in other European countries that are our neighbours.
“We just need to look across the Channel to the French to see how we should be behaving.”
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