London is dangling by a thread and could be set to be placed into the strict tier 3 lockdown as the R rate has soared to almost 3.
The rate of infection across the capital is now thought to be the highest in England, according to data compiled by the Department of Health and Social Care, compiled by Imperial College London and Ipsos Mori.
The data indicates that coronavirus has exponentially skyrocketed in the week to 25 October.
Professor Paul Elliott, director of the Imperial program, said the interim findings “paint a concerning picture of the situation in England.”
However, City AM has reported, that its prevalence remains lower than other “very high” risk regions such as Manchester and Liverpool.
Health officials warned that prevalence across the country has more than doubled over the last week.
They estimates that 128 in every 100,000 people who are currently infected with the virus means, that the second wave “has now reached a critical stage.”
They further warned that the virus “is now increasing most rapidly” in the Midlands and the South, where “patterns of growth rate and the age distribution” of cases are similar to those previously seen in the North, which are now under tier 3 controls.
Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said on Thursday, that coronavirus rates are in a “bad place” across the country, but added the government are resisting another national lockdown.
He told Sky News, “We will continue with our localised but proportionate approach on taking action where the virus is strongest, but you can see from those figures that the virus is in a bad place in all parts of the country.
“The approach of trying to bear down on it where it is most concentrated, I think, continues to be the best way forward because despite the fact the virus is rising across the country it is very concentrated in some places nonetheless.”
Medical and scientific experts are warning that there needs to be a change before Christmas as they estimate almost 100,000 people per day are becoming infected.
They have said that the current measures the government has put in place are “not sufficient” as the pandemic is “growing exponentially.”
Professor Steven Riley of infectious disease dynamics at Imperial College London said, “Our data show that there’s absolutely no reason to expect that exponential rise to change to the next few weeks, regardless of what we do, because we’re measuring infections occurring in the community.
‘If we are going to consider at some point over the winter that we may have to do something much more stringent, then it becomes a question of time.
“I think these results do argue for something sooner rather than later.”
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Sir Jeremy Farrar, who sits on the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), has said the UK “cannot continue to just observe and not act.”
In a tweet, he wrote: “U.K delayed in March resulting one of worst outcomes globally. Sept/Oct we have had all the data, trajectory epidemic clear + experience first wave & other countries.
“Delaying is itself a decision with consequences.”