Coronavirus: Johnson faces calls for urgent action and COBRA meeting as cases rise
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has come under pressure to take “decisive action” in the battle against coronavirus as cases rise.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has demanded a COBRA meeting within the next 48 hours and echoed the sentiments of London mayor Sadiq Khan regarding the need to learn from March’s mistakes and implement restrictions quickly.
“We know from experience earlier in the year that speed and decisiveness of action is important in the fight against COVID,” Sturgeon tweeted.
Scotland reported 350 new cases on Saturday and three deaths, while England saw 16 more deaths.
Sturgeon said: “There will always be fluctuations in daily figures – that’s why we look at 7 day averages to balance out variations in testing etc. Even with that caveat though, today’s report underlines [the] fact that COVID is rising.”
She said the Scottish government “will seek to reach considered decisions as quickly as possible” and urged the public to be “extra careful” and “minimise interactions with other households”.
It comes after Khan yesterday warned that London risked coronavirus cases “spiralling out of control” as they did earlier in the year.
He said it was “increasingly likely” lockdown measures would be needed in London again.
Earlier today, Dr Bharat Pankhania, senior clinical lecturer at the University of Exeter, told Sky News it is “blindingly obvious” what needs to be done to stem the increase in Covid-19 cases.
He said: “My advice to Prime Minister Boris Johnson is, don’t sit there and say ‘we are going to do something next week’. It’s tomorrow, it’s today.
“You say, ‘as of today please reduce your circulation in pubs, restaurants, transport, offices and all those places where infection transmits’. It’s as straightforward as that.”
According to the government’s scientific advisers, the R number, which shows the spread of the virus, is now between 1.1 and 1.4.
It has led to fears the number of cases in a few weeks could equal those seen in March and April if decisive action is not taken now.