London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Oct 06, 2025

Health system ‘won’t be able to cope’ if current growth of Covid-19 infections continues, top UK epidemiologist warns

Health system ‘won’t be able to cope’ if current growth of Covid-19 infections continues, top UK epidemiologist warns

Britain’s leading epidemiologist, Neil Ferguson, has warned that “in a month’s time,” the country may be hit much harder by the pandemic than during its peak level in March, unless the surge in infections is stopped.
A professor at Imperial College London, Ferguson said on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Today’ show that the growing infection rate was “worrying.”

“We now have 8,000 people in hospital with Covid. That is about a third of the level we were at the peak of the pandemic in March,” the epidemiologist stressed, warning that, if the trend continues, “in a month’s time, we will be above that peak level in March and that is probably unsustainable.”

The scientist said “we’ll have to wait another week or two” to see if the recently reimposed restrictions have been effective against the spread of the virus.

During the early stages of the pandemic, Ferguson’s team developed the much-discussed mathematical model projecting that more than 500,000 people in the UK could die if the government took no action.

The model was later criticized by some think tanks and in the media as “flawed.” Ferguson told Radio 4 in September that he “completely” stood by his original projection, however, and that, “if anything, it might have been an underestimate.”

The government unveiled a three-tier system of local lockdowns earlier this month, but stopped short of bringing back the strict nationwide lockdown imposed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in March, when the UK was first hit by the outbreak.

The Greater Manchester area was moved to Tier 3, also known as the ‘Very High Alert’ level, on Friday, joining Liverpool and Lancashire. The alert level in South Yorkshire has been upgraded to Tier 3 from Saturday. Greg Snell, the top health official in the region’s capital, Sheffield, told BBC that the new restrictions will likely last “more than a few weeks” because the Covid-19 “numbers are quite high, and they are going up.”

A total of 20,530 new cases were reported in the UK on Friday, which marked the fourth day in a row when that number has shot past 20,000.

Overall, 44,571 people have died from Covid-19 across the country since the start of the outbreak, media sources have reported, citing government data.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
×