Minister: UK at ‘Tipping Point’ on Coronavirus

Date: 20 September 2020 - 21:54

News ID: ۸۳۰۰۷

LONDON (Reuters) -- Britain is at a tipping point on COVID-19, health minister Matt Hancock said on Sunday, warning that a second national lockdown could be imposed if people don’t follow government rules designed to stop the spread of the virus.
COVID-19 cases have risen sharply in recent weeks to more than 4,000 per day, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson calling it a second wave and stricter lockdown measures being introduced in areas across the country.
"The nation faces a tipping point and we have a choice,” Hancock told Sky News. "The choice is either that everybody follows the rules ... or we will have to take more measures.”
Hancock later told the BBC that a second national lockdown was possible option. "I don’t rule it out, I don’t want to see it,” he said.
Johnson announced fines of up to 10,000 pounds ($12,900) on Saturday for people in England who break new rules requiring them to self-isolate if they have been in contact with someone infected with COVID-19.
In addition to tighter rules on social gatherings across the country, several cities and regions in Britain have had ‘local lockdowns’ imposed, limiting even more strictly when, where and how many people can meet up socially.
Asked about comments from London mayor Sadiq Khan, who said on Friday new restrictions were increasingly likely in the capital, Hancock said: "I’ve had discussions this week with the Mayor of London, and the teams are meeting today to discuss further what might be needed.”
Elsewhere, India’s coronavirus case tally surged to 5.4 million as it added 92,605 new infections in the last 24 hours, data from the federal health ministry showed on Sunday.
The country has posted the highest single-day caseload in the world since early August, and lags behind only the United States, which has 6.7 million cases in terms of total infections.
A total of 1,113 people died of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the health ministry said, taking mortalities to 86,752, which is a relatively low 1.6% of all cases.
More than 30.55 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 951,051 have died, according to a Reuters tally.
Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.