England is on track for about 50,000 coronavirus cases a day by mid-October and a surging death toll unless the public gets serious about preventive action, top advisors in the United Kingdom have warned.
Rates of infection in England are replicating the , roughly doubling every seven days, the government's chief medical officer Chris Whitty told a media briefing on Monday.
"We are seeing a rate of increase across the great majority of the country," he said, urging the public to respect stricter guidelines on social distancing.
"This is not someone else's problem. It's all of our problem."
The government's chief medical officer Chris Whitty (left) and chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance arrive at Downing Street ahead of the briefing. Source: AAP
The briefing previewed an expected announcement by Prime Minister Boris Johnson this week detailing government action to flatten the exponential coronavirus curve heading into winter, when regular respiratory diseases typically spike.
COVID-19 cases are rising by at least 6,000 per day in Britain, according to week-old data, and hospital admissions are doubling every eight days.
Mr Johnson last week said Britain was already seeing a second wave of COVID-19, and the government introduced new restrictions for millions of people across northwest, northern and central England.
People in England who refuse to self-isolate to stop the spread of coronavirus could face fines of up to £10,000 ($17,000) under tough new regulations announced on Saturday.
Mr Johnson said that from 28 September, people will be legally obliged to self-isolate if they test positive or are told to by the National Health Service (NHS) tracing programme.
It is essential for the public to play its part in preventing the NHS being overwhelmed in the colder months, Mr Whitty said at the briefing, alongside the government's chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance.
"We are in a bad sense literally turning a corner, although only relatively recently. At this point, the seasons are against us."
Mr Vallance said that on current trends, the daily count of cases will reach about 50,000 on 13 October, and a month later exceed 200 deaths every day.
Almost 42,000 people who have tested positive for COVID-19 have died in Britain, the worst death toll from the pandemic in Europe.
After a summer lull, cases have been rising rapidly to more than 3,000 each day.
Mr Whitty said "science in due course will ride to our rescue" with a successful vaccine but over the next six months, "if we don't change course, the virus will take off".
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