Covid cases could soon rise above 100,000 a day

New Health Secretary Sajid Javid has said that cases of Covid in the UK could rise above 100,000 a day in the summer.

England is set to scrap the remaining coronavirus lockdown rules on freedom day, July 19. The Health Secretary has warned that infection rates could hit over 100,000 people a day in the future.

Labour are hoping that freedom day will be balanced with new measures being put in place. Sajid Javid who has only been in post for a few days has supported Boris Johnson’s approach which he announced on Monday evening.

Only days ago Javid said that there would be no going back after decreasing lockdown restrictions, but Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he has now said that some restrictions may return in the future.

Javid explained how coronavirus mutant variants could emerge which current vaccines are unable to tackle. “The one thing that no one can say for certain anywhere in the world is the future progression of the virus” said Javid.

“Because this is uncharted territory for any country in the world, as you go further out, week by week, the projections are even less reliable,”

“As we ease and go into the summer, we expect them to rise. They could go as high as 100,000. We want to be very straightforward about this in what we can expect in terms of case numbers. But what matters more than anything is hospitalisation and death numbers.”

Boris Johnson spoke at a press conference yesterday, Monday, July 5. “We must be honest with ourselves that if we can’t reopen our society in the next few weeks, when we will be helped by the arrival of summer and by the school holidays, we must ask ourselves: when will we be able to return to normal?” said Johnson.

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