Grim warning next few weeks will be ‘worst of pandemic’ and lockdown could last months

Vaccinations against coronavirus are now set to be ramped up as mass injection centres open but pleas have been made to the public to stick to the lockdown rules to prevent avoidable deaths.

All four nations of the UK are facing dire warnings, with high levels of infection and hospitals struggling under the strain.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has warned that when it comes to the current measures “every flexibility can be fatal”.

And Professor Chris Whitty warned BBC Breakfast that the next few weeks could be the worst for the NHS.

He said: “The peak we had back in April last year, we had about 18,000 people in the NHS. We currently, as of yesterday, have over 30,000 people in the NHS.

“A week ago, all the four chief medical officers for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland said: ‘This is going to be a significant crisis for the NHS unless we take evasive action’.

“This new variant is really pushing things in a way that the old variant – which was already very bad – was not able to.

“So, we have a very significant problem … this is a serious problem and it is rising in every part of England.

“The next few weeks are going to be the worst weeks of this pandemic in terms of numbers into the NHS.”

Professor Whitty also suggested that measures could be needed until “some time in the spring” to stem the spread of the virus.

“We’ve got to make this sustainable because we got to be able to maintain this for several more weeks now,” England’s chief medical officer told BBC Breakfast.

“We’re really going to have to do a significant action for all of us for several more weeks until probably some time in the spring for very much of what we have to do.

“So, we do obviously need to be able to do essential work which they can’t do from home. We fully accept that that’s necessary to keep society going because you’ve got to be able to do it over a period of time."