Professor Whitty added: “What we have seen is a progression, after the remarkable efforts which got the rates right down across the country, firstly we saw very small outbreaks which might be associated with the workplace or another environment.
“Then we have seen more localised outbreaks which have gotten larger over time, particularly in the cities.
“Now what we are seeing is a rate of increase across the great majority of the country – it is going at different rates, but it is now increasing and what we have found is that as we go through in time, anywhere that was falling is now moving over to beginning to rise and then the rate of rise continues to rise in an upward direction.
“So this is not someone else’s problem, this is all of our problem.”
