Official figures show 2.7 million people in private households are estimated to have had COVID-19 last week, an 18% increase from 2.3 million the previous week. And in the House of Lords, Health Secretary Lord Kamall was asked what the government was prepared to do if rising cases began to affect the health system. He told colleagues that the UK Health Safety Agency (UKHSA) was still “focusing on the backlog”. But he added: “If it gets to a point where it affects the backlog, then clearly measures may have to be introduced.” The minister had earlier told his peers: “We continue to see rates of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations rise across all age groups, with the biggest increases in hospitalizations and ICU admissions in people aged 75 and over. “The largest proportion of those hospitalized are for reasons other than COVID, yet COVID is being identified because of increasing rates of community cases and a high rate of hospital testing, including those without a respiratory system. “Current data does not show that cases are becoming more severe.” Opening the debate, Labour’s health spokeswoman Baroness Meron said there had been an “amazing rise” in coronavirus infections but the government “has been noticeably silent, maybe a bit distracted”. He asked if ministers planned to mount a campaign to highlight rising cases and the benefits of getting a COVID vaccine, and if the government would consider reintroducing compulsory mask use in hospitals. Read more: Is the UK on the brink of a new wave – and is ‘immune footprinting’ to blame? Cases of COVID-19 continue to rise, reaching the highest level since late April Lord Kamall replied: “We are always ready to step up if the case rates rise so much that our health system is under pressure, but what we have also done is break the link between infections and hospitalizations and hospitalizations and death. “If this gets out of hand, then of course we’ll go back to the measures we had before.” Image: Free testing could resume if cases continue to rise Lib Dem peer Lord Paddick wanted to know whether the government would bring back free COVID tests for everyone in England and financial support for those in isolation. Lord Kamall said some in the health system believed future cash for COVID would be “better spent elsewhere given the backlog due to the lockdown” instead of free tests for all. He added: “All of this will continue to be monitored. If the number of cases gets out of hand then clearly we will look at reintroducing free testing at some stage if needed.”
