Audio By Carbonatix
Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt is calling for schools and borders to close "right away" as he warns the pressures facing hospitals are "off-the -scale worse" than previous winter crises.
The chairman of the Commons Health and Social Care Committee says, while in previous years, elective care has been cancelled in January to protect emergency care that too is now under severe pressure, with "record trolley waits for the very sickest patients".
"Even more worryingly, fewer heart attack patients appear to be presenting in ICUs, perhaps because they are not dialling 999 when they need to," the Conservative MP said on Twitter.
"[The number one] lesson is countries that act early & decisively save lives & get their economies back to normal faster.
"We, therefore, cannot afford to wait: all schools should be closed, international travel stopped, household mixing limited and the tier system reviewed so that the highest tier really does bring down infection levels (as with the first lockdown)," Hunt concluded.
Latest Stories
-
17 times is enough – GNCCI boss backs IMF exit, demands discipline
1 hour -
Faith, Fame & Footprints: What really opens doors for gospel artistes
2 hours -
Louvre Museum crown left crushed but ‘intact’ after raid
4 hours -
Newly discovered Michelangelo foot sketch sells for £16.9m
5 hours -
Morocco urges residents to leave flood‑risk areas as evacuations exceed 108,000
5 hours -
Starmer apologises to Epstein victims for believing Mandelson’s ‘lies’
5 hours -
Businessman in court for allegedly threatening police officer with pistol
5 hours -
3 remanded, 2 hospitalised in Effutu Sankro youth disturbances Â
5 hours -
Somanya court convicts five motorcycle taxi riders for traffic offencesÂ
5 hours -
Ayew, Fatawu in danger of relegation as Leicester docked points for financial breaches
5 hours -
ChatGPT boss ridiculed for online ‘tantrum’ over rival’s Super Bowl ad
6 hours -
Choplife Gaming secures license to launch online sports betting and casino operations in Liberia
6 hours -
Warning of long airport queues under new EU border control system
6 hours -
Saudi Arabia is lifting the alcohol ban for wealthy foreigners
6 hours -
Algerian Khelif willing to take sex test for 2028 Olympics
7 hours
