⁍ Britain has recorded more than 20,000 new coronavirus cases a day on average over the last week.

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⁍ British government scientists said that numbers were heading in the ‘wrong direction’
They said the ‘reasonable worst case’ planning scenario for the winter of reaching 500 deaths a day and a toll of over 80,000 is in danger of being exceeded unless infection numbers are cut.

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– The UK has seen more than 20,000 new cases of coronavirus every day over the past week, an average that’s so high that the “reasonable worst case” scenario of 500 deaths a day and 80,000 dead by winter is in danger of being exceeded, according to papers published by the government’s science advisers on Friday, Reuters reports. “The UK was one of the hardest hit countries in the world in the first wave. It would be particularly tragic if we repeat this experience,” University of Oxford professor James Naismith says, noting that 1% of the population in Engalnd, England, is believed to have the virus. The paper, dated Oct. 14, advisers said that the exceeding of the worst case scenario might continue for three or four weeks if infections were brought down. But since then, they have risen further. Britain has recorded more than 20,000 new coronavirus cases a day on average over the last week, but the government has resisted a new national lockdown even as France and Germany reintroduce country-wide restrictions. Scotland, Wales, and North Ireland run their own policies on fighting the pandemic. Adding to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s headaches, a poll by Ipsos MORI indicated falling support for the government. It found that the opposition Labour party had overtaken Johnson’s Conservatives, with Johnson himself recording his lowest net satisfaction as prime minister. Foreign minister Dominic Raab said on Friday that a national lockdown in England was not inevitable: “We’ve seen some evidence since we started putting in place this tiered approach that the rate of increase has slowed.”