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Health officials ‘not confident’ UK can cope with second coronavirus spike amid fears lockdown being eased too quickly

AFP via Getty Images
AFP via Getty Images

A senior public health official said she does not feel “confident” that the UK is ready to deal with a second spike in coronavirus cases.

Dr Jeanelle de Gruchy, president of the Association of Directors of Public Health [ADPH], warned that ministers are “misjudging” the balancing act and lifting “too many of the restrictions too quickly”.

It comes as pupils start to return to school today as major changes are made to coronavirus lockdown restrictions. People in England will be allowed to meet up with up to six people from separate households outdoors, while more than two million clinically vulnerable people who have been shielding from the virus for the past 10 weeks will also be allowed to go outside.

Dr de Gruchy told the BBC’s Radio 4 Today Programme: “We need the national testing programme to be absolutely robust and ready and we need the NHS Test and Trace to be robust and ready to give us that confidence.

“And of course the other issue which we haven’t mentioned for a while is about PPE and the supply of PPE

“All of those organisational challenges – we are not feeling just yet that we are confident enough to meet any potential challenge if the Government goes too quickly on easing lockdown measures.”

The UK has a reproduction rate – a measure of the disease's ability to spread – of between 0.7 to 0.9. Achieving an R-rate below one was one of the government's five key tests for relaxing lockdown measures.

But Dr de Gruchy added: “It is below one but it is a very limited room for manoeuvre isn’t it?

“We know how quickly this virus can spread. It is difficult to predict then – with quite a lot of the measures being eased all at once – what impact that will have on the R-value.”

She added: “Lots of people including local directors of public health across the country are increasingly concerned that the Government is misjudging this balancing act and lifting too many of the restrictions too quickly.”

Business Secretary Alok Sharma told BBC Breakfast they wanted to avoid a second peak at “all costs” and said they were lifting restrictions in a “phased and cautious manner”.

In a blog on Sunday, the ADPH​ warned they were “increasingly concerned” the Government is making the wrong judgment by easing lockdown restrictions far too quickly .

It said pictures of crowded beaches and beauty spots over the weekend showed “the public is not keeping to social distancing as it was” and the NHS test and trace programme “is currently far from being the robust operation that is now urgently required as a safeguard to easing restrictions”.

It said: “Over the weekend we have seen signs that the public is no longer keeping as strictly to social distancing as it was. Along with this, we are concerned that the resolve on personal hygiene measures, and the need to immediately self-isolate, if symptomatic, is waning.

“A relentless effort to regain and rebuild public confidence and trust following recent events is essential.”

The blog said the Government’s second test from its list of five – a sustained and consistent fall in the daily death rate – was happening, but “the downward trend is slow – particularly in care settings”.

The ADPH also said a second peak cannot be ruled out, and asked: “Do we really want the same number of deaths again? The scale to date represents an unimaginable tragedy and we must do everything possible to limit further loss of life.”

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Lockdown changes come into force as pupils return to school- LIVE