Events like the EUROS should have been delayed says former North West public health boss
Professor John Ashton warns of a link between mass public events and rising COVID cases
Last updated 5th Jul 2021
A former Director of Public Health for Cheshire and the North West is warning of a link between England playing in the Euros and rises in the number of coronavirus cases.
There have been scenes of packed out bars, pubs and fan zones during England matches in Euro 2020 across the North West.
Professor John Ashton says mass public events should have been delayed until the end of August, when he believes the country "would have had the opportunity then of being in a much safer place".
Last week, Public Health Scotland connected more than 2,000 cases of coronavirus with the football tournament.
Professor John Ashton told Hits Radio Staffordshire & Cheshire News: "If we don't get this right we could well see an increase in deaths, a further big increase in Long Covid and there's the possibility that this virus will change again into a more deadly form".
Professor Ashton also believes we'll see the impact of people gathering for England matches in the coronavirus data in a few weeks time.
"Each round of this competition that we get through leads to more and more animated behaviour amongst fans.
"It means, if the virus could do, would be rejoicing about the opportunities to it to spread.
"I'm really concerned about these mass events. The government's been impatient, and encouraged the public to be impatient, about getting back to these kind of things. If only we could have waited for another month or two.
"The number of deaths have been increasing, it's nothing like what it was.
"But we could be back up to 50 or more deaths a day by the middle of the summer holidays".
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