Covid UK news: Lockdown ‘may have to be tightened again’ amid warning of significant summer wave

A person wearing a face covering walks past a sign for a walk-in Covid-19 testing centre in Blackburn (AFP via Getty Images)

Experts have warned that a third wave of Covid infections has already started in the UK and that some strict lockdown rules may have to be reintroduced if infections surge.

“We’re at the beginning of [the third wave] now,” Professor Neil Ferguson, the Imperial epidemiologist, said today.

The number of daily coronavirus infections today passed 10,000 for the first time since 19 February, as the upward trend that began a month ago continued.

Chief medical officer Chris Whitty said the current surge would “definitely” translate into hospital admissions and “undoubtedly” further deaths. And Professor Graham Medley said it was “not impossible” restrictions would have to be brought back in if hospitalisations started to rise.

Meanwhile, an internal NHS email seen by Channel 4 indicates that hospitals have been told to brace themselves for a likely third peak in early August. It warns “we are preparing for a third wave” and adds “the peak is expected to be 1 August”.

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