Sadiq Khan says ministers ‘must act now’ and slams No10 for not adopting a ‘circuit breaker’

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Sadiq Khan has said ministers ‘must act now’ to impose tighter restrictions on the nation, as data shows the coronavirus is spreading fastest in London.

The Mayor for London believes the Government should have listened to SAGE and locked England down for a short two-week period in September, when cases began spiralling out of control.

Now, it risks being ‘too late’ with the potential of a deeper crisis, whereby tough restrictions will be needed for a longer period of time – the ‘worst possible outcome both for public health and our economy’.  

It comes after a study claims the R rate in the capital is almost as high as three and infections are doubling every three days.

Researchers at Imperial College London, who today estimated a staggering 100,000 people are catching Covid-19 every day across the country, warned the city has a ‘scary’ rate of spread. For comparison, the experts claimed the national R rate is around 1.6 and cases are doubling every nine days. 

They predicted the R rate — the average number of people each carrier infects — is higher than two in London, the South East, East and South West, which have mostly escaped any tough local lockdowns. And of the entire south of England, London has the highest prevalence of coronavirus at 0.89 per cent, suggesting more than 80,000 of the city’s nine million residents were infected at any given moment.

Academics claimed the R rate in London may be 2.86, meaning those 80,000 people carrying the virus at the time of the study could be expected to infect another 229,000. The possible range of the rate — which must stay below if an outbreak is to shrink — is between 1.47 and 4.87, they estimated.  

Londoners are currently banned from meeting indoors with anyone they don’t live with, after Mr Khan piled pressure on No10 to drag the city into Tier Two. Infection rates vary across the 32 different boroughs – from 223 positive tests per 100,000 people in Ealing over the most recent week, to 103 per 100,000 in Lewisham. 

Government sources now fear London and swathes of the south will soon be thrust into Tier Three, saying it was a matter of ‘when, rather than if’. Under the even tougher measures, residents would be banned from socialising with other households and pubs would shut unless they serve substantial meals.

But one MP today warned moving into Tier Three would kill struggling businesses off completely. Tory London mayor candidate Shaun Bailey told MailOnline: ‘We can’t let London grind to a halt or let our eco-system fail. This is a matter of livelihoods as well as lives.’

Scientists behind Imperial’s study, funded by the government, came out in favour of a national lockdown, which has now been adopted in France for a second time, and said the results show that current social distancing rules aren’t doing enough; Britain, they said, should ‘think about changing the approach’.

A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: ‘We know that when it comes to this virus acting early and decisively is best, both for public health, but also for the economy. The more we delay in implementing measures, the more stringent they need to be and the longer they have to be in place.

‘The Mayor is clear that with cases, hospitalisations and deaths rising across the country since August, the Government should have listened to the advice of SAGE and introduced a short circuit breaker. The failure to provide a fit for purpose test and trace system or adequate financial support for workers has led to the need for these tougher restrictions.

‘Ministers must act before it’s too late and the country is plunged into a deeper health crisis with a longer lockdown needed. This would be worst possible outcome both for public health and our economy.’

The pressure to impose a national lockdown in England is mounting as the number of coronavirus cases continues to climb and France and Germany move into partial lockdowns this weekend. 

The British government’s scientific advisers (SAGE) called for a short lockdown in England to halt the spread of Covid-19 in September, documents published on October 12 revealed. 

The experts said an immediate ‘circuit breaker’ was the best way to control cases, at a meeting on 21 September. But it was not chosen as a strategy, with a tiered system instead being introduced on October 12. 

Experts are suggesting a more national approach is still needed to address the soaring infection rate that is now evident across the whole country. 

Professor Steven Riley, an infectious diseases expert at Imperial College, said this morning the Imperial study showed some kind of national action was needed.

He told Radio 4’s Today this morning:  ‘I think what our study shows is there would be genuine benefits to some kind of national policy.

‘We could prevent the pattern in the South turning into the current pattern in the North and bring about a reversal in the North as quickly as possible.

‘If we’re going to end up using those restrictions that have been brought in elsewhere in Europe today and yesterday… we should think about timing. And sooner is better than later for these.

‘There has to be a change. The rate of growth that we’re seeing in these data is really quite rapid, so one way or another there has to be a change before Christmas. 

‘We’ve fairly reliably measured a slight decrease in R in our interim round five [the last part of the study]; now we have measured a slight increase in R, and the slight increase in R means that current measures are not sufficient.’

The research was based on 85,971 swab tests done across England between October 15 and 26, of which 863 were positive. Using this information the researchers calculated around 1.28 per cent of the population is infected.

Rates of positive tests in London show some boroughs have comparable numbers of infections per person than the national average – 230 positive tests per 100,000 people in the week ending October 23 – while others have fewer than half as many.

Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham and Kingston upon Thames, all in the west of the city, have rates higher than 200 cases per 100,000 – but none have as many as England as a whole.

Croydon, Greenwich and Lewisham, in the south and east of the city, have fewer than half as many cases as the national average, however, with a per-person rate lower than 115 per 100,000. 

The city was lumped under the same rules because, Mayor Sadiq Khan said, the population moves around so much that it would be too difficult to try and separate them. 

One MP in the capital told MailOnline this was a ‘mistake’.

Sir Bob Neill, MP for Bromley and Chislehurst, where there were 121 cases per 100,000 people in the most recent full week of data, said: ‘A “one size fits all” approach to London was and remains a mistake. 

‘There is far less travel within London than usual as most people who commute are working from home and the theatres and other attractions in central London mostly shut. Use of our train service to London is only about one fifth of normal. 

‘We should be taking these decisions on a more localised basis and be giving more weight to the economic costs and damage to health that lockdowns themselves can create.

‘Businesses in my constituency tell me that further restrictions would have a very damaging effect on them. Local pubs and restaurants tell me that more than half of their bookings cancelled within 24 hours of us going into Tier 2. 

‘Going into Tier 3 would kill them off completely. I am also getting increasing reports of mental health issues affecting isolated and vulnerable people.’

Shaun Bailey, the Tory London mayor candidate, said: ‘I will always support action to keep Londoners safe. But no one is helped by Sadiq Khan’s never-ending calls for more lockdowns.

‘We can’t let London grind to a halt or let our eco-system fail. This is a matter of livelihoods as well as lives.

‘Instead of calling for lockdowns, Sadiq Khan should focus on doing his job — like fixing TfL’s finances, which are about to collapse thanks to his £9.56 billion of wasteful spending.’

London Chamber of Commerce’s chief executive, Richard Burge, said: ‘Bringing in a simplified system to manage and understand Covid-19 restrictions makes sense in theory, but it must be accompanied by evidence that explains clearly why certain businesses and sectors are the target of increased restrictions.

‘Businesses have proven throughout this crisis that they will put the health of their staff and customers first, but after their valiant attempts to trade through this challenging climate and keep people employed, as the tiers change they deserve a specific explanation of why and how their sacrifice will lower transmission rates.’ 

UK Hospitality’s chief executive, Kate Nicholls, added: ‘An increasing R rate is obviously a concern for the country. 

‘If further restrictions on trade are required to combat the spread of Covid, it is vital that they are accompanied by the proper support to make sure that businesses survive and jobs kept safe.’ 

Higher R rates were found across the southern regions of England, which have not faced as many local lockdowns as the Midlands and the North.

Northern areas with tighter restrictions – such as bans on socialising or tougher rules on travelling and going out to eat or drink – have seen their R rates fall because people do not come into contact with one another as much as they do in other areas. Although southern regions have higher R rates, cases are still lower so the outbreak remains worse in the North – the two measures must be considered side-by-side.

London and parts of Essex are in Tier Two restrictions but the majority of the East, South West and South East face only national social distancing rules and are allowed to socialise in groups of six.   

Meanwhile, the R rates are lowest in the North West and North East, where millions of people are living under strict rules to contain outbreaks.

The North East, which includes Newcastle and Middlesbrough, is the only place in the country where the outbreak is shrinking, with an estimated R of 0.57, the team calculated.

In a bid to control the virus in London, which was struck by disaster in the first wave of the epidemic in the spring, the Metropolitan Police has said it is sending out extra patrols to enforce social distancing laws.

The Met has sent extra officers to the badly-hit boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham and Hackney to conduct extra patrols in the worst-affected areas in the capital to help clamp down on breaches of regulations.

It comes as data released by the National Police Chief’s Council today revealed around two-thirds of coronavirus fines have been handed to those under the age of 35. 

Under the new clampdown, officers will target those making the most ‘deliberate, dangerous or flagrant of breaches’ and who risk putting others lives in danger. 

Also among the worst-affected areas in the capital are Ealing, Kingston Upon Thames, Redbridge, Hounslow, Hillingdon and Tower Hamlets. 

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist, the Met’s lead for Covid-19 response, said: ‘This approach does not mean that other areas of London will see a reduction in existing patrols to clamp down on rule breaking. 

‘However, in those areas of London where the transmission rate is at its highest, we will be doing our part to help shut down reckless breaches of the regulations.

‘I know the vast majority of Londoners are sticking to the rules which are designed to keep everyone in our communities safe. But, there is a small minority who have a disregard for the health of our communities and it is those individuals who we will be targeting with these new patrols.

‘We have been, and continue to listen to our communities and explain to them our policing approach, and have been regularly reviewing our deployment plan according to the latest infection rates by PHE.

‘This remains under constant assessment and where we see an increase in reported cases we adapt our response to reflect that.

‘Extra patrols have, this week, been deployed to Hammersmith and Fulham and Hackney, and we will continue to monitor the reported cases to ensure we are doing all we can, working with our communities, to tackle the further spread of this disease.

‘We are now approaching the Halloween weekend; another significant date in the annual calendar for celebrating, which is going to be different this year with parties unable to go ahead as normal.

‘As much as the restrictions may seem disheartening, we want to remind people that they are in place for an important reason, to keep everyone safe.’ 

The REACT-1 study that produced the worrying statistics about London also estimated there were around 96,000 people getting infected every day in England by October 25.

The experts behind the research warned cases were just weeks away from surpassing levels seen during the darkest days of the pandemic in March and April. Previous projections have estimated there were slightly more than 100,000 daily cases in spring, which led to over 40,000 deaths in the first wave.  

The study warned infections are doubling every nine days, suggesting there could be 200,000 daily cases by the first week of November. 

Imperial researchers said it was possible that the recent wet and dreary weather had played a role in the surge in infections, by driving people indoors where the virus spreads more quickly. But they warned it was more likely a small dip in adherence to social distancing rules across the board had opened the door for the highly infectious disease to spread more rapidly.

Imperial’s best guess is that 1.3 per cent of everyone living in England was carrying the disease by October 25, the equivalent of one in 75, or 730,000 people. Covid-19 prevalence was highest in Yorkshire and The Humber (2.7 per cent) and the North West (2.3 per cent).

The study, which will likely be used to pile more pressure on No10 to impose a national lockdown, also estimated the virus’ reproduction ‘R’ rate was around 1.6 across England in the most recent week, compared to 1.16 in the previous round. Experts have repeatedly warned it is critical the reproduction rate stays below the level of one to prevent cases from spiralling. 

It comes after another 310 Covid-19 victims were recorded last night and 367 the day before, in the highest daily toll since the end of May. But the 26,688 infections reported yesterday was actually the first week-on-week fall in a month — though the central testing programme is missing asymptomatic and mild cases of the virus, which make up the vast majority of infections.