Coronavirus: Ministers ‘consider new shielding plan for clinically vulnerable in virus hotspots’ as cases surge

Department of Health says shielding advice – currently paused – will be kept ‘under review and in line with the advice of our scientific and medical experts’

Health secretary Matt Hancock (PA)

Thousands of clinically vulnerable people could be told to shield in virus hotspots for prolonged periods during the winter months as cases of coronavirus surge across cities in northern England.

The plan reportedly being considered by the government comes as Matt Hancock, the health secretary, acknowledged the country is facing a “perilous moment” in the fight against the virus, with hospital admissions on the rise.

A minister also warned on Thursday evening the situation was “getting out of control”, with Boris Johnson widely expected to announce tighter restrictions for millions next week, including the closure of pubs, bars and restaurants in northern cities.

Under the three-tier local lockdown system – central to the prime minister’s proposals – clinically vulnerable people in areas with severe transmission rates will reportedly be told to stay at home to reduce the risk of contracting Covid-19.

At the height of the pandemic, around 2.2 million “clinically extremely vulnerable” across the country were told by the government to shield, before the scheme was “paused” in England in July when coronavirus restrictions were eased.

According to The Times, the new advice has not been finalised by ministers as the deputy chief medical officer Jenny Harries attempts to develop a “tailored shielding” scheme, aiming to replacing the blanket guidance to millions at the onset of the pandemic.

In response to the reports, a Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson told The Independent: “Shielding advice for the clinically extremely vulnerable people is now paused across the whole of the country.

“We keep all aspects of our response to the pandemic, including the advice to the most vulnerable, under review and in line with the advice of our scientific and medical experts.”

After the UK recorded 17,540 lab-confirmed infections of Covid-19 on Thursday, skills minister Gillian Keegan told BBC Question Time: “This is serious – it is getting out of control, and we have to do something to bring it back under control.”

Echoing the urgency of the situation, Sir Jeremy Farrar, the director of the Wellcome Trust and member of the government’s Scientific Advisory Body for Emergencies (Sage), said the country is now “back to the choices faced in the early March”.

Responding to reports that hospitals in the north of England are set to run out of Covid beds for patients within weeks, he added: “The tragedy is how predictable this has been since at least early July. It was not inevitable.

“It is not inevitable now that this worsens, but to avoid spiralling out of control needs to be action now. We are close to or at events & choices of 13-23 March.

“With the lag time between making a decision, its implementation & its effect measured in weeks the longer the decisions are delayed the harder & more draconian are the interventions needed to change trajectory of epidemic curve.”

He warned: “Don’t act slow than the spread of the epidemic, don’t get behind an epidemic curve. So much harder to turn that epidemic curve around.”