Health and Social Care Secretary's statement on coronavirus (COVID-19): 30 November 2020
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Matt Hancock gave a statement at the coronavirus press conference.
Good afternoon and welcome to today바카라 사이트s Downing Street coronavirus briefing.
I바카라 사이트m joined today by Professor Steve Powis, the National Medical Director of NHS England, and General Sir Gordon Messenger, the Head of Operations for the Community Testing Programme.
Tomorrow night, our national restrictions in England will come to an end and, subject to the vote in Parliament, we바카라 사이트ll return to the tiered system from Wednesday morning.
I know that the national restrictions have been really tough for some people. But the good news is: they바카라 사이트ve been working.
Let me take a moment if I may to run through the numbers.
Today바카라 사이트s study from Imperial College shows that the national restrictions have brought down cases down by a third.
Over the last week, the average number of positive tests is now 14,778 바카라 사이트 down from a peak of 25,331 on 16 November.
Today, there are 15,712 patients in hospital in the UK with coronavirus 바카라 사이트 that is down from 16,612 on 23 November a week ago.
In England, in the week before the peak, the number of cases grew by 11% but in the last week, cases have dropped by 30%, almost a third.
This is clearly good news 바카라 사이트 it shows the national restrictions have been successful.
And what this means in practice is that 바카라 사이트 through everyone바카라 사이트s actions in respecting the national lockdown and through everything people have sacrificed 바카라 사이트 we바카라 사이트ve reduced pressures on the NHS, we바카라 사이트ve brought down the number of coronavirus cases, we바카라 사이트ve got this virus back under control.
And I want to thank you for that and for the part that you바카라 사이트ve played.
The effect of the action we take, of course, brings with it huge challenges too 바카라 사이트 especially for the hospitality sector.
But as the analysis of health, economic and social effects of COVID-19 and the approach to tiering shows 바카라 사이트 which we바카라 사이트ve published today 바카라 사이트 it clearly demonstrates, this action is necessary to avoid a much worse outcome.
And we must be vigilant. There are still 14,778 positive cases reported every day. There are still those 15,712 people in hospital with COVID.
And, sadly, there are still 460 reported deaths, on average, each day. This is far too many.
But there is light at the end of the tunnel. We know that, together, we can beat this 바카라 사이트 and we바카라 사이트ve got to stick at it.
Putting this in technical terms, the R rate is back below 1 바카라 사이트 but only just.
When R is below 1, the number of infections falls over time, because on average, each infected person infects fewer than one other.
And for that to happen on average, it바카라 사이트s important that lots of infected people, infect no one else at all.
This is the central challenge of this pandemic and it바카라 사이트s made much much more difficult because about 1 in 3 people who have coronavirus have no symptoms at all, but nevertheless pass the infection on to others.
And that바카라 사이트s why, even as we ease these national restrictions, we바카라 사이트ve got to keep some restrictions in place. Hence the tiering system.
So while we can let up a little, we can바카라 사이트t afford to let up a lot.
The success of our collective efforts means that, from Wednesday, everyone in England 바카라 사이트 even those in Tier 3 바카라 사이트 can have some greater freedoms.
But we don바카라 사이트t have much headroom. We can바카라 사이트t risk letting cases rise again 바카라 사이트 especially into Christmas and with the flu season around the corner.
The Prime Minister has published the government바카라 사이트s COVID-19 Winter Plan which sets out the end to national restrictions and the steps we바카라 사이트ll take to help bring life back to normal by spring.
But even as we take these steps forward, we must keep our resolve. We바카라 사이트ve worked so hard and collectively sacrificed so much. But we can get through this. And we know that hope is on the horizon.
In the past fortnight we have made some really significant progress on vaccines and the NHS now stands ready to deploy a vaccine, should one be approved by the UK바카라 사이트s independent regulator.
And today, Moderna, the American company, formally filed for the use of its vaccine in America. Moderna has already been submitting data to the MHRA, the UK바카라 사이트s regulator, for some time.
And as we set out this weekend, we have secured 2 million further doses, meaning that we in the UK now have access to a total of 357 million doses of 7 different vaccines.
And while we keep working on a vaccine, we have already built a huge testing capacity that we can deploy right now.
I wanted to take a moment to talk through the next steps on testing.
Since the start of the pandemic we바카라 사이트ve built the biggest testing capacity in Europe and it means we can use tests to do lots of things we couldn바카라 사이트t do before.
In addition to our symptomatic testing programme and the rapid testing we are now deploying in the NHS and across social care, we have the capacity to do more.
Today we begin the roll-out of our university student testing programme and expand community testing.
And we won바카라 사이트t just test people with symptoms; because of this problem of asymptomatic transmission, people who don바카라 사이트t have symptoms but do have covid transmitting covid to others we바카라 사이트re going to test people who don바카라 사이트t have symptoms as well.
This really matters, because by finding the positives, we can break the chain of transmission and stop other people catching covid.
In Liverpool, where over 300,000 people 바카라 사이트 both with symptoms and without 바카라 사이트 where that testing has happened, they바카라 사이트ve managed to bring the case rates down by over three-quarters.
And so on Wednesday Liverpool will go into Tier 2, not Tier 3.
Of course, I want to see this sort of success right across the board so we바카라 사이트re rolling out community testing much more widely.
We바카라 사이트ve been working with those areas going into Tier 3 with colleagues in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland too.
And today 바카라 사이트 with the publication of our community testing prospectus 바카라 사이트 we set out the next phase of that work to give Tier 3 areas a faster way out of the toughest restrictions, to support them to come down the tiers 바카라 사이트 as has happened in Liverpool.
We바카라 사이트ve already received significant interest from around the country, including from the West Midlands, Redcar, Warwickshire and Medway and others.
And this offer is available across all of the UK and will be delivered in partnership with local authorities in Tier 3 areas and devolved administrations throughout the country.
Because by using tests that can turn results around in under 30 minutes we can identify and isolate people who have covid, including, crucially, the 1 in 3 people with covid, who don바카라 사이트t have any symptoms at all 바카라 사이트 but can nevertheless pass the infection on.
Because you can have covid without symptoms and still infect others. That of course is a silent danger.
You wouldn바카라 사이트t know that you바카라 사이트re risking lives around you.
So, if you바카라 사이트re offered a test 바카라 사이트 please take it. You might just save a life.
The final thing I wanted to say is that it is all of our responsibility to keep ourselves safe, to keep our families, our friends and our communities safe. That responsibility is on all of us.
I know it weighs heavily 바카라 사이트 we바카라 사이트ve been carrying it for a long time now.
But the light of dawn is on the horizon.
It바카라 사이트s the moment to stand firm until the morning.
So we can look back and see clearly: that everything we gave and everything we did, it was not for nothing but so we could save lives and build back better for everyone.
I now want to turn to Professor Powis to take us through the latest numbers on the impact on the NHS.