Britain is at a "tipping point"in the coronavirus crisis and the country must act now to stop history repeating itself, the deputy chief medical officer for England said, urging people to follow the rules.
With the number of cases rapidly rising particularly in the north of England, MPs are readying a new set of rules to try to tackle the crisis that will include handing more power to local leaders to track the virus' spread.
Professor Jonathan Van Tam said in an opinion article that the spread of Covid-19 was now moving from younger adult age groups to older people in the worst affected areas, and "just as night follows day, increases in deaths will now follow".
"In our national fight against Covid-19, we are at a tippingpoint similar to where we were in March; but we can prevent history repeating itself if we all act now," he said.
"We are in the middle of a severe pandemic and the seasons are against us. Basically, we are running into a headwind ...The principles for how we keep transmission low have not changed," he said, repeating the message for people to wash their hands, wear face coverings and reduce social contacts.
Britain, which has one of the highest death rates from coronavirus in Europe, is seeing cases take off since the government began re-opening the economy, schools and universities.
Wanting to balance protecting lives and livelihoods, the government has adopted a strategy of using local lockdowns to try to contain the virus, but its critics say there has been little evidence that this approach is working.
Mayors and council leaders in northern England say local economies could be "shattered" as a result of sweeping new rolling Covid enforcements set to be unveiled by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the Commons tomorrow.
Mr Johnson is set to detail a new three-tier system of restrictions with measures expected to force pubs and restaurants to shut across the region and see millions of people banned from mixing indoors and outdoors.
Reports suggest the top tier will see no household mixing allowed either, which could affect millions of people living in areas with high Covid-19 rates across England.
