According to experts who are advising the British government on the coronavirus outbreak, said the social distancing measures are working better than expected.
However, the coronavirus lockdown will last for “several more weeks” as there can be no relaxation until the UK has past the peak.
NHS England’s national medical director Stephen Powis said it was “critical” that people obeyed the instructions and stayed at home.
Powis said, “We are beginning to see the benefits of this social distancing. We do believe the virus is spreading less.
“That will only continue to happen if we don’t get complacent and continue to follow those instructions.”
Professor Paul Cosford, emeritus medical director for Public Health England (PHE), told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, “It really does look like the numbers are flattening.
“That is really important because that is the first sign that we may be getting to the peak of this pandemic.
“I think several weeks isn’t unreasonable.
“Let’s hope its sooner than that. Just for now, we are getting on top of this, but we have got an awfully long way to go and it is absolutely critical that we continue with all the actions that are required of us.”
Professor Neil Ferguson of Imperial College London who also advises the government, said the social distancing measures are working better than expected.
Professor Ferguson told BBC Radio 4 Today programme, “We made quite conservative assumptions about the level of contact reduction these measures would result in.
“There is some preliminary evidence in terms of contact surveys, in terms of data from companies like Google about how people move, that we have seen even larger reductions in normal behaviour, contact, than we would have dared hope.
“That is good news, but we have still got to see that reflected in case numbers coming down.”
He added, “Without doubt measures will be targeted, probably by age, by geography, and we will need to introduce, in my view, much larger levels of testing at a community level to really be able to isolate cases and more effectively identify where transmission has happened.”
The Director of Epidemiology for Global Data Kasey Fu who, told the Express the coronavirus peak is to hit over Easter weekend.
She said, “When Italy had their peak of deaths it was around 900 cases per day and that’s what we’re seeing for the UK right now.
“So, it may even be higher because the UK hasn’t reached the peak yet.”
England recorded 866 coronavirus patient deaths and another 87 across Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The patients were aged between 27 and 100-years old, and 56 of the patients who died had no known underlying health conditions.
Over the next two weeks, scientists said the death toll will continue to rise due to a lag in how the reporting of fatalities are being announced.
The scientist released a 3D model showing how the virus spreads in the air through tiny airborne aerosols particles.
Their findings “emphasise the importance of avoiding busy indoor spaces.”
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