The rate at which people are diagnosed with coronavirus in the UK is likely to increase day on day for the next two to three weeks, a medical expert has warned.
Professor Paul Cosford, emeritus medical director of Public Health England (PHE), was speaking to the media this morning about the possibility of the UK soon seeing 1,000 deaths a day.
Hull Live reports that he told Radio 4's Today a rise in cases will continue for the next few weeks followed by a plateau asa result of social distancing measures.
He said: "My expectation – and I think the expectation of those looking at this most closely – is that we will continue to see an increase in the numbers of people being infected and admitted to hospital over the next two to three weeks.
"But we should hit a plateau if all the social distancing measures are working in about two to three weeks’ time.”
He added PHE has got the test in place, saying: “We’ve played our part, which is to make absolutely certain that that test is spread throughout Public Health England’s laboratories, throughout NHS laboratories, is available to support the clinical treatment of patients who need it.”
He went on to admit testing numbers in England appear low but insisted they will “increase rapidly”.
He said: “I know 2,000 doesn’t sound a lot compared with the many hundreds of thousands of NHS staff that we’ve got but that is now ramping up quickly.”
Asked why the process is taking so long, he said: “This is an incredibly complex operation to put in place in a very short period of time.”
Despite the increase in cases, Prof Cosford said the NHS looks set to remain “within capacity” if social distancing works.
He told Good Morning Britain: “If we get to a position where demand outstrips supply, and all the figures that I have seen so far look as if we won’t get to that position, certainly it looks as if we should be able to stay within capacity if the social distancing works and that’s why the social distancing is so important.”
