Covid wave in Europe should be ‘warning’ to UK, says SAGE advisor

Danny Jones

SAGE advisor warns UK of Europe's fourth wave

The growing consensus is that we are in the midst of a fourth wave

A senior SAGE advisor has urged that the ongoing Covid wave should be a “warning” to the UK, as case numbers continue to soar across Europe.

Professor John Edmunds told Sky News that we are witnessing a “rapid increase in cases” not only in the likes of France, Germany and Austria but here in the UK as well. As such, he emphasised the “critical” importance of taking up the vaccine.

SAGE member Professor John Edmunds has told Sky News that Europe's rising COVID cases should serve as a 'warning' to the UK, as he urged the public to get their vaccines 'as rapidly as possible'.

Get more on thiks story: https://t.co/4tfyfD7Rxn pic.twitter.com/IrvAdWaCpV

— Sky News (@SkyNews) November 20, 2021

He went on to say those available for a booster should also consider getting the third jab “as rapidly as possible”. Boosters are now available to those over 40 and groups who are immunocompromised or considered high risk.

This rather alarming graphic below shows how coronavirus cases across the continent have been tracked over the past few months:

Europe’s fourth COVID wave.https://t.co/vbrpanaf21 pic.twitter.com/CYYguqxiar

— Julius Tröger (@juliustroeger) November 19, 2021

While much of Austria is now back in lockdown and vaccines are set to become compulsory from Monday, Edmunds actually suggested that the UK’s situation is different and arguably even more concern, as we have been recording “high rates of infection for many months now”.

People across Britain will be hoping that the numbers start to decrease in time for Christmas as Prime Minister Boris Johnson refused to rule out a lockdown over the holidays.

Though the accuracy of dates is hard to ascertain give how statistics are recorded, it is hard to pin down exactly when this reported fourth wave started, but the September surge seems to be a close approximation.

At the end of October, daily Covid cases in the UK spiked by more than 37,000‘ since then, there has been a 9.4% increase with cases shivering above 40,000.