The government are increasing pressure to bring back some mandatory restrictions which would see some rules brought back in such as mandatory wearing of face mask and working from home to help ease the pressure this winter for the NHS.
The government insists that the increasing high infection rates is not putting pressure on the NHS, but hospitals are currently facing their highest levels in seven months.
As of Monday there was almost 9,000 patients in hospital across England, which is the highest level since 9 March and the numbers are increasing.
The governments top scientific advisor has warned the high levels of Covid remains a concern and the scientific modelling remains “quite uncertain.”
Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, who helped create the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, warned the NHS was “incredibly fragile.”
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Sir Patrick Vallance who is Downing Street’s chief scientific advisor said, “Nobody is really clear which direction this is going in, but they are clear about the two big variables that could change that.
“One is waning immunity, so if immunity wanes faster than expected, you’ll see a bigger increase, and that’s why it’s so important to get booster shots going in the vulnerable and the elderly in particular.
“The second is the behavioural change, how quickly we return to pre-pandemic behaviours… if you aggregate the models, most are saying ‘Actually, it looks fairly flat, don’t expect the very big peaks we’ve had in the past, it looks fairly flat, but at a very high level at the moment.’
“So the high level remains a concern and from a high level you can go up quite quickly.”
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