Practice staff in the UK’s worst affected pandemic areas are likely to get regular COVID-19 testing, it was announced yesterday.

The move came as Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the new three tier system – with Merseyside placed in the highest risk category and its pubs and restaurants closed. Large areas of the north and the midlands are in an intermediate category, facing additional restrictions on socialising. Three Nightingale hospitals in Manchester, Sunderland and Harrogate have been put on stand by to reopen.

NHS England medical director Professor Stephen Powis said that the NHS is “now at a point where we will be able to more systematically test asymptomatic staff on a regular basis.”

Professor Jonathan Van Tam, deputy chief medical officer, said there were now 250 COVID-19 patients in intensive care at the Liverpool University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Virus patients are occupying 30% of ICU beds in Manchester. He warned: “There is a lag between cases, hospital admissions and deaths rising. The hospital admissions we have now are related to numbers of cases about three weeks ago. Already, we have baked in additional hospital admissions and sadly additional deaths on infections that have already happened.” He added: “I want to be very clear that as patients become ill with Covid-19, they don’t immediately go into hospital. It takes some time before they become ill enough to go into hospital, and they don’t die in hospital the moment they arrive — some unfortunately do die, but not instantly.”

The plan for regular testing was welcomed by the Royal College of Physicians. President Professor Andrew Goddard said: “From the figures released this morning by the deputy chief medical officer, and from what our members have been telling us, we know for certain that we are now in the second wave of COVID-19. It is currently centred in the north west and north east of England, but it is going to spread to other areas. This is going to be a very hard winter, but doctors, nurses and their colleagues stand ready to care for the nation. We all have a responsibility to protect them and the NHS so it can care for all patients, those with COVID-19 and those with other potentially life-threatening conditions.”

According to NHS data yesterday, there were 426 patients on mechanical ventilation in England, an increase of nearly 60 over the weekend. Hospitals were treating a total of 3,665 COVID-19 patients. The UK reported 13,972 new cases of infection and 50 deaths.

Professor Powis added: “In the over 65s, particularly the over-85s, we are seeing steep rises in the number of people being admitted to hospital. So the claim that without taking further action, the elderly can somehow just be fenced off from risk, I’m afraid is proving to be wishful thinking. Hospital admissions are rising fastest in those areas of the country where infection rates are highest.”

NHS Confederation chief executive Danny Mortimer said: “We are in a different place to where we were in March with the Nightingale hospitals on standby, PPE confirmed for health and social care services over winter, treatments for coronavirus on stream, and different parts of the NHS working together like never before.

“But the stakes are also higher as we head into winter, which is a typically very challenging time for the NHS and as leaders tackle the treatment backlog and remain adamant that another national ban on carrying out routine procedures must be avoided.

“Frontline staff are doing everything they can and have brought back many of the services that had to be put on hold in the first wave, but because of the way the virus is accelerating we run the risk of again having to make difficult decisions about what services we can provide.”

British Medical Association chair Dr Chaand Nagpaul said: “The Prime Minster has told the public at different times, that different measures would curb the infection rate and that local strategies would control outbreaks. It’s clear from today’s announcement that there is no clear strategic plan for prevention – these tiers treat the symptoms, not the cause.

“The Government cannot hope to win back public faith and confidence with this piecemeal approach. Ministers must not miss this crucial opportunity to stop a cycle of failed interventions and reassure the public, patients and NHS staff alike that they have robust tactics in place to get this deadly virus under control.”