Londoners urged to push through ‘final mile’ of lockdown before Covid restrictions are eased

MPs have urged Londoners to to redouble their efforts and crush the second Covid-19 wave.
MPs have called on Londoners to keep sticking to restrictions for the final stretch of lockdown
AP
By Nicholas Cecil5 February 2021

Millions of Londoners were today urged to redouble their efforts to push through the “final mile” to crush the second Covid-19 wave.

MPs called on people to follow the guidance on mask wearing, social distancing and not mixing between households as official figures showed that falls in cases in some boroughs were now less than half the rate of those seeing the biggest drops.

They also revealed that the capital’s Covid hotspot is now in west London, with the north east having been hardest hit by the second wave but also seeing the biggest declines in cases.

Four boroughs - Ealing, Hounslow, Hillingdon and Brent - still have a seven-day rate of more than 400 new confirmed cases per 100,000 and the boroughs seeing the smallest declines in cases are also all in west London.

They went down by 19.5 per cent in the week to January 30 in Richmond, 21.8 per cent in Hammersmith and Fulham and 23.9 per cent in Kingston.

As the disease is on the retreat, London’s public health chief Professor Kevin Fenton is warning that driving down infectious diseases is most difficult in the “final mile”, as many of the people most at risk then are those who find it hardest to avoid the virus such as key workers, other individuals who are unable to work from home, or people living in overcrowded housing.

The seven-day rate for London has fallen to 292.5, still far higher than in the summer, and he would like to see it get below 100 before easing of lockdown starts.

Greg Hands, MP for Chelsea and Fulham, stressed that the recent drops in cases were “ encouraging” and that “things are moving in the right direction”.

However, he added: “We just need Londoners to redouble our efforts to diligently follow the rules on masks, social distancing and stopping household mixing.”

Hammersmith MP Andy Slaughter said: “Lockdown works but everyone has to do their bit and take this seriously.

“Hospitals are still under huge pressure and there are still very many people very ill in intensive care and on ventilators.”

Sir Ed Davey, MP for Kingston and Surbiton, stressed: “I would urge every single person living in Kingston and elsewhere to follow the Government guidance.

“There is no room for complacency, this pandemic is still dangerous. We all count on each other to play our part.”

Munira Wilson, MP for Twickenham which includes Richmond, added: “With the vaccination programme rolling out at pace, we need to redouble our efforts to get virus rates down further.

“We have light at the end of the tunnel but we can’t afford to squander the gains we’ve made through the sacrifices of lockdown.”

The biggest fall in cases was in Tower Hamlets, 49.3 per cent in the week to January 30, followed by Greenwich 48 per cent, and Hackney and the City of London 47.6 per cent.

Health chiefs, though, are emphasising that disease levels are still high.

Eight boroughs still have a seven-day rate over 300, 18 over 200, and just two below 200, Camden on 165.9, and Kensington and Chelsea on 199.8.

A further 3,268 confirmed cases were announced for the capital yesterday, with the real number of infections significantly higher.

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