New TV ad fronted by the Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Whitty urges people to stay at home in the face of rapidly rising rate of coronavirus infections and pressures facing the NHS

Massive public information campaign will run across TV, radio, out of home and on social media from tonight Everyone in England is being urged to stay at home and “act like you’ve got it” as part of a major advertising campaign encouraging the public to control the spread of the virus and protect the NHS and save lives. Around 1 in 3 people with Covid-19 don’t have any symptoms and can pass it on without realising, which is why it’s essential everyone stays at home and remembers Hands, Face, Space.

‘Stay at home, save lives’ will run across TV, radio, out of home advertising and on social media, and will include a new advert fronted by the Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Whitty which will be aired for the first time on ITV at 7.15pm on Friday 8 January 2021.

The campaign recognises the overwhelming pressure facing the NHS and urges people to stay at home. It comes as current data shows COVID-19 cases and deaths are at an all-time high and NHS hospitals and staff are under huge pressure, with some hospitals in the South East at extreme capacity.

On 1 September, there were under 500 COVID-19 inpatients in hospitals in England. On 1 November this increased to approximately 9,000. On Christmas Day, it was just below the last peak at 17,701 and on 7 January there were 28,246 – that is an increase of more than 11,000 in under two weeks.

Today’s stark data (8 January) shows the UK recorded 68,053 new coronavirus cases – the highest daily total of the pandemic so far, as well as the highest ever daily COVID-19 deaths with 1,325 fatalities.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:

Our hospitals are under more pressure than at any other time since the start of the pandemic, and infection rates across the entire country continue to soar at an alarming rate.

The vaccine has given us renewed hope in our fight against the virus but we must not be complacent. The NHS is under severe strain and we must take action to protect it, both so our doctors and nurses can continue to save lives and so they can vaccinate as many people as possible as quickly as we can.

I know the last year has taken its toll – but your compliance is now more vital than ever. So once again, I must urge everyone to stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives.

Health and Social Care Secretary, Matt Hancock, said:

Our NHS is facing a huge challenge – it is under immense pressure and it’s imperative now more than ever we all play our part.

I know how much we have all sacrificed already, but the new variant has significantly changed the current landscape and we absolutely cannot let up now.

There is light at the end of the tunnel – the vaccine will provide a way out of this and over 1.5 million people across the UK have now been vaccinated.

Every day we are closer to beating this virus, but right now, we need to pull together for one final push and I’m urging you to continue to do your bit by staying at home to save lives and protect the NHS.

Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Whitty, said:

Covid-19, especially the new variant, is spreading quickly across the country. This puts many people at risk of serious disease and is placing a lot of pressure on our NHS.

Once more, we must all stay at home. If it’s essential to go out, remember: wash your hands, cover your face indoors and keep your distance from others.

Vaccines give clear hope for the future, but for now we must all stay home, protect the NHS and save lives.

The adverts remind the public the new Covid-19 variant is spreading fast. Around 1 in 3 people with Covid-19 don’t have any symptoms, but can still pass it on, putting people at risk and a renewed pressure on our NHS.

It reiterates everyone must stay at home. If it’s essential to go out, it reminds people to wash their hands, cover their face and make space.

In the meantime, NHS Test and Trace is successfully reaching more people than ever before, with 96.8% of contacts reached within 24 hours and more than five million people being reached in total. As of 30 December, more than 54 million tests have been processed in the UK in total since testing began – more than any other comparable European country.

Over 1.5 million people across the UK have now been vaccinated – more than the whole of Europe. But the Government is urging people to continue to do their bit and further prevent the spread of Covid-19.

The Government has ordered two million of the first British-manufactured rapid lateral flow antigen tests for COVID-19 to be validated by Public Health England, for use in asymptomatic testing, Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock has announced.

Derby-based company SureScreen Diagnostics is to provide two million of the lateral flow tests, which provide results in under 30 minutes, by next Friday (15 January), with the potential to provide millions more in the coming months.

Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said:

It is excellent to be working with a UK firm to deliver millions of these rapid tests, which are being deployed across the country to help protect our communities and most vital public services.

Roughly one in three people with Covid-19 don’t display symptoms, meaning you can infect others unknowingly. This is why asymptomatic testing is so crucial in our fight against the virus, and why I’m so grateful to see the British diagnostics industry use their ingenuity and expertise in our shared purpose to protect our communities.

Interim Executive Chair of the National Institute for Health Protection Baroness Dido Harding said:

I am really pleased that we have been able to work with SureScreen to ensure we have a British supplier for this vital testing technology. Lateral Flow Tests are playing an ever increasing role in our testing programme as we continue to expand testing to find positive cases amongst those without symptoms. Having a British manufacturer provides greater certainty that we will be able to continue to grow our supply of these important tests

David Campbell, Director of SureScreen, said:

We believe our rapid antigen tests can really help in screening people both in the community and in clinical settings. Routine testing is crucial to help business and schools as well as hospitals and GPs. We are delighted to be working with DHSC on this project and that our tests have been recognised by the Government and its scientists. We look forward to doing all we can to help the UK going forward in 2021.

Under the Government’s Winter Plan, NHS Test and Trace is already deploying hundreds of thousands of rapid tests to identify asymptomatic cases in care homes, across the NHS, in critical infrastructure workplaces and food manufacturers, and in partnership with local Directors of Public Health.

In addition to this, the Government’s Community Testing Programme is providing asymptomatic testing through local authorities across the UK. The SureScreen tests will form part of this important asymptomatic testing activity.

The valuable partnerships being created with companies such as SureScreen Diagnostics are further contributing to the resilience of the UK, both through supporting the work of UK diagnostics manufacturers and by harnessing the possibilities opened up by rapid regular testing.

Britons will again be cheered by the news that yet another vaccine has been approved for use in the UK.

Friday’s authorisation of the Moderna vaccine for (coronavirus) COVID-19 means we will, by spring, have 3 safe and effective vaccines to use.

A vaccine was always going to be our best way out of this pandemic; that’s why so much effort and planning has gone into our vaccination programme.

Some 1.5 million people have got the jab already and this number is accelerating rapidly.

Tomorrow we’re launching our full vaccine deployment plan – the culmination of months of preparation and hard work by the NHS, the Armed Forces, and local and regional government at every level.

The basic principle that sits behind it is to save as many lives as possible, as quickly as possible. It’s also essential we reduce hospitalisations from this disease, so we can reduce the pressure on our NHS.

To achieve that, we have an ambitious plan to protect our most vulnerable groups first, because they account for more than 4 out of 5 COVID deaths. We want to offer the vaccine to the top 4 most vulnerable groups by the middle of February.

It’s ambitious, but I’m confident we can do it, not least because we are drawing on the strengths of 2 of this country’s most treasured assets: the NHS and our Armed Forces. We’re in safe hands.

Working together, day and night, they will ensure our vaccines are going into arms rather than sitting on shelves. UK forces will use techniques borne out of decades of experience of getting things done in some of the toughest conditions imaginable. They’ll bring the bravery and brilliance they shown in places like Iraq and Afghanistan to these shores.

By the end of this week, we will have over 1,000 GP-led vaccination sites up and running, as well as 223 hospital sites, 7 giant vaccination centres and the first wave of 200 community pharmacies. It means it won’t be too long before we can expand our programme down the priority list and more of us can get the jabs, using our new National Booking service to make appointments.

It’s an exciting time, but I recognise it’s also a frustrating time because we’re not there yet. We’re still living under some tough restrictions and the disruption that comes with them. But as our heroes set out on this vital national mission, we can all play our part by sticking to the rules and remembering those simple steps: hands, face, space. That way their success will be our success and we can come out of this together.

We begin 2021 knowing that vaccines are our way out of this pandemic. Human ingenuity and phenomenal scientific advances make it a case of when, not if, we will return back to normal life.

The cavalry is here courtesy of our vaccination programme and we have already protected more people through vaccinations than any other European country.

Alongside this pivotal work, we must not lose focus on our system of testing, which we know is another important weapon in our fight against this virus, and can bring down the R number by between 0.3 and 0.6.

Over the past months, we have been regularly testing our colleagues in health and social care and those working in critical infrastructure, to give them peace of mind and to keep them and their colleagues safe.

We have also been doing community testing in the areas where prevalence is highest to help find more cases sooner and we currently have over 400 sites in community centres, village halls and places of worship across the country.

This targeted approach has yielded results, picking up a proportion of cases that’s above the national average and allowing us to bear down hard on the virus in a local area.

Today I am thrilled to announce that testing for those who do not have symptoms will be available to every local authority in England, and working closely with devolved administrations, so every corner of the UK can benefit from this life-saving work.

This expansion comes at a critical time. We recently had to introduce difficult but vital restrictions to deal with a highly transmissible new variant of coronavirus.

As a result, millions of people are working from home, reducing their social contact to slow the spread of the virus.

But we know that millions of workers, who work in warehouses or construction sites or who keep vital services going, are not able to do this. So we will be asking local authorities to target this testing programme at those who cannot work from home and who have to leave home during lockdown, providing them with another layer of protection and helping us to drive down the spread of the virus.

Many large employers, like John Lewis and Royal Mail are already piloting regular workforce testing. As we expand our capacity, we want more rapid testing available to those who can’t work from home, and NHS Test and Trace will work closely with other government departments, employers and local authorities to make this happen.

This critical national infrastructure for testing will be so important as we ease restrictions, so we can use the confidence provided by accurate testing to find the virus and help us return to normal life.

One of the greatest breakthroughs in our testing programme was the use of lateral flow devices, which can pick up infectious cases and turn around rapid results.

So far, most of these tests have been shipped in from abroad, but we now have signed a contract with SureScreen Diagnostics, based in Derby, to deliver the first lateral flow tests here in Britain to be approved by Public Health England.

Two million of these rapid tests, which provide results within 30 minutes, have already been manufactured, with the first batch of one million due to be delivered by the end of this week.

This is great news for our country, not only because it allows us to test more people, but also allows us to boost British industry and further enhance our world leading life sciences sector.

While we deliver our vital programmes for testing and vaccines, using the best of human ingenuity to keep us safe for the long-term, we must all play our part and follow the rules that we know can bend the curve.

If we do this, then we know that 2021 will be a year of recovery, and a year when this nation gets back on its feet once more.