The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) has warned of a potentially massive upsurge in hospitalisations with the millions of Britons of who returned to the office this month.
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An inevitable rise in infections
Also coinciding with pupils returning back to school and universities, hundreds of thousands of journeys were made across big cities in the UK—increasing likelihood of infection. Experts at Sage said:
A clear consensus that continued high levels of homeworking have played a very important role in preventing sustained epidemic growth in recent months. It is highly likely that a significant decrease in homeworking in the next few months would result in a rapid increase in hospital admissions.
Coupled with the fact that it has still remained unknown when exactly vaccines will weaken in efficacy or whether everyone will require booster shots, a rise in cases is sure to be observed. As it stands currently, the UK has seen its highest rate of hospital bed occupancy since record levels back in March, after daily admissions have passed the 1,000 mark last week.
Measures to be reinstated?
Now, the Sage group of experts believe that the only way of making sure that hospitals do not collapse with an inevitable surge in cases is to reimpose certain safety measures. Measures that are likely to impinge on the freedom of Britons, again. They explain that:
If enacted early enough, a relatively light set of measures could be sufficient to curb sustained growth.
And added:
During a period of sustained epidemic growth, however, the more stringent the measures introduced, the shorter the duration needed for the measures to be in place to reduce to a given prevalence.
