Britain faces 'out of control' virus threat

One of the United Kingdom's leading disease specialists has warned that the spread of novel coronavirus risks "getting out of hand" as it undergoes a resurgence following the summer holiday period.

Although the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that overall weekly death numbers in England and Wales are continuing to fall, members of the scientific advisory group to the UK government, also known as SAGE, have warned against any form of complacency.

There have already been concentrated regional spikes in the East Midlands, Greater Manchester and now Caerphilly in Wales, and SAGE adviser Andrew Hayward, who is a professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at University College London, said the increase in cases "can potentially get out of hand if we don't be very serious about the control measures".