Covid-19 third wave unlikely to peak until ‘late August, early September’, says minister

It's just a matter of time until a third wave hits

Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary Robert Jenrick told Sky News that England should expect a third wave to peak by late-August or early September, as he warned of 'challenging weeks ahead'. "I would urge people to ensure they have the NHS app on their phones, that it's fully switched on," said Jenrick. "We're actually seeing more people download the app than ever before, so the evidence is positive. "But then if you do get contacted by track and trace, of course, to follow all of the steps that are required. "Because it is a really important part of our toolkit for tackling the virus at this critical stage as cases are still rising, hospitalisations are increasing. "And we won't really expect this wave of the virus to peak until late August, maybe even early September. "So there are going to be some quite challenging weeks ahead." https://twitter.com/RobertJenrick/status/1416376698514313219

Jenrick's warning comes 24 hours before the long-awaited 'Freedom Day', where restrictions are to be lifted, and people can return to some form of normality. However, a large number of scientific and government figures have warned the public that this by no means renders the pandemic over, with cases still rising sharply day-by-day. "We are not by any means out of the woods yet," said Chris Whitty, the UK's chief medical officer. "We've still got 2,000 people in hospital and that number is increasing. If we double from 2,000 to 4,000 from 4,000 to 8,000, 8,000 and so on it doesn't take many doubling times until you're in very, very large numbers indeed." https://twitter.com/paul__johnson/status/1416703367640928259 Sunday saw both Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak receives pings on the track and trace app, following Sajid Javid's positive Covid-19 result. Initially, neither were going to self-isolate, and instead would take part in daily testing as part of a pilot scheme. However, after widespread uproar and accusations of hypocrisy, the pair confirmed that they will isolate.