Coronavirus alert level lowered after ‘steady’ fall in cases

The coronavirus alert level across the UK has been lowered from four to three, the Department of Health has said.

The UK’s chief medical officers said the move was recommended by the Joint Biosecurity Centre after a “steady decrease” in COVID-19 cases in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Alert level three means the virus is in general circulation but transmission is no longer high or rising exponentially, and there could be a “gradual relaxing of restrictions”.

The Department of Health said the level has been changed to three “with immediate effect”.

In a statement, the UK’s chief medical officers said: “There has been a steady decrease in cases we have seen in all four nations, and this continues.

“It does not mean that the pandemic is over. The virus is still in general circulation, and localised outbreaks are likely to occur.

“We have made progress against the virus thanks to the efforts of the public and we need the public to continue to follow the guidelines carefully to ensure this progress continues.”

The chief medical officers – England’s Professor Chris Whitty, Northern Ireland’s Dr Michael McBride, Scotland’s Dr Gregor Smith and Wales’ Dr Chris Jones – said they had “reviewed the evidence” and agreed the alert level should be downgraded.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said moving to a lower alert level was “a big moment for the country, and a real testament to the British people’s determination to beat this virus”.

Analysis: Lowering the alert level is good news – but the risk of a second wave is very real

By Rowland Manthorpe, technology correspondent

The move to alert level three reflects the gradual fall in cases across the country. The lockdown has brought the virus under some kind of control.

While this is good news, we should be careful about reading too much into national or even regional figures, because we are most likely entering a new phase of the pandemic, where local outbreaks pop up even as national cases continue to decline.

In the last two weeks, for instance, there have been 650 cases in Leicestershire. The ability to control this kind of outbreak will be key to success in the future, no matter what the alert level.

It is not entirely clear what the relationship is between the alert level and the loosening of lockdown, but this news would appear to pave the way for the government to move to the third step of its plan, which involved opening hairdressers, restaurants and pubs.

However, even with the alert level at three, there is still a very real risk of a second wave, so some social distancing will have to remain in place, and people will still have to be careful where they go, what they touch and who they see.

The “COVID alert level” system – unveiled by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in May – involves a scale of one to five, which he said would reflect the degree of threat to the country from coronavirus.

At the time, Mr Johnson said the level would be determined by the reproduction rate of COVID-19 (R) – which is the average number of people each infected person transmits the virus to – and the number of cases.

However the easing of lockdown measures in England at the beginning of June caused concern as the alert level remained at four – which the government previously said would mean restrictions remaining in place.

At level five, transmission is high or rising and there is a risk healthcare services will be overwhelmed. Level one means coronavirus is no longer known to be in the UK.

Level three is when the epidemic is in general circulation and gradual easing of restrictions can take place, while level two is when the number of cases and transmission is low and “no or minimal” restrictions are required.

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The government announced on Friday that a further 173 people who tested positive for COVID-19 had died in the UK.

It brings the country’s total number of coronavirus deaths in hospitals, care homes and the wider community to 42,461,

The number of people who have been infected with coronavirus in the UK is now 301,815 after 1,346 more cases were confirmed on Friday.

(c) Sky News 2020: Coronavirus alert level lowered after ‘steady’ fall in cases