Matt Hancock issued an urgent appeal to Londoners today to “stick by the rules” aftershock figures showed Covid-19 cases rising in 21 boroughs increasing the risk of Tier 3 for the city before Christmas.
The Health Secretary also stressed that more people in the capital will end up in hospital and die because of the disease’s spread.
He spoke out after alarming data showed confirmed cases jumping by 46.7 in Haringey in the week to December 2, with many boroughs in east London also being particularly badly hit.
Worryingly, much of the rise happened before lockdown ended last Wednesday.
The coronavirus surge is all the more striking as just over a week earlier cases were falling in 30 out of 32 boroughs.
Asked on LBC Radio whether London was close to going into Tier 3, Mr Hancock stressed: “My message to everybody in London is ‘let’s stick by the rules’ and not push the boundaries of the rules, but rather try to limit the spread of this infection because the case numbers are going up in parts of London, in parts of Essex, in parts of Kent, and we know what happens when case numbers go up, sadly more people end up in hospital and more people end up dying.
“So, we’ve got to stick at it and we have got to keep this virus supressed whilst we get the roll-out (of the vaccine) going.
“So, my message to everybody in London is ‘please respect the restrictions, respect what needs to be done, keep yourself and your family and your community and your city safe’.”
Cases are understood to be rising more sharply in the under 18s, with a number of school outbreaks, and also in the over 60s, than other age groups.
The increase in the older age group is worrying as these people are more likely to suffer severe disease, to be hospitalised and to die from the infection.