English health official warns pandemic entering worst weeks

England’s chief medical officer has warned that the coming weeks will be the worst of the pandemic for the National Health Service, as he appealed to the public to more closely follow the guidelines meant to prevent the spread of the disease

LONDON — England’s chief medical officer warned Monday that the coming weeks would be the worst of the pandemic for the National Health Service as he appealed to the public to strictly follow guidelines meant to prevent the spread of the disease.

Chris Whitty said political leaders are considering tightening the rules as a new, more transmissible variant of COVID-19 aggravates an already difficult situation. Hospitals are overflowing and exhausted medical staff are under strain.

“I think everybody accepts that this is the most dangerous time we’ve really had in terms of numbers into the NHS,’’ Whitty told the BBC.

The warning comes as hospitals in England struggle to keep up with a surge in coronavirus infections that has seen the number of beds filled by COVID-19 patients rise steadily for more than a month. English hospitals are now treating 55% more COVID-19 cases than during the first peak of the pandemic in April.

“In a sense, tinkering with the rules may be useful, but the far more important thing is that everybody abides by the spirit of the rules that are there at the moment,’’ Whitty said. “Everybody knows what they need to do. And I think that’s the key thing — minimize the number of contacts.”

England last week entered a third national lockdown that closed all nonessential shops, schools, colleges and universities for at least six weeks. But police report many violations of rules that require people to stay home except for essential reasons such as exercise and grocery shopping.

The government hopes the restrictions will reduce the strain on the NHS while it ramps up a nationwide mass vaccination program. Seven new large-scale vaccination centers are set to open Monday, joining around 1,000 other sites across the country, including hospitals, general practitioners’ clinics and some drugstores.

The U.K. government’s goal is to vaccinate 15 million people by mid-February, targeting people over 70, front line healthcare workers and others who are especially vulnerable to the virus. That will protect people who account for almost 90% of coronavirus-related deaths and may allow restrictions to be eased, the government says.

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