flexing of rules 'could be fatal'

Flexing the coronavirus lockdown rules could be fatal, the health secretary has warned as hospital admissions soar.

Matt Hancock did not rule out strengthening current restrictions and told the BBC's Andrew Marr the NHS was under "very serious pressure".

It comes after almost 60,000 new cases of coronavirus were reported in the UK on Saturday and the number of deaths after a positive test passed 80,000.

Scientist Prof Peter Horby warned the UK was in "the eye of the storm".

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the rules were tough but "may not be tough enough" and called for the government to hold daily press conferences to avoid "mixed messages".

Mr Hancock told Andrew Marr "every time you try to flex the rules that could be fatal" and said staying at home was the "most important thing we can do collectively as a society".

The health secretary said he did not want to speculate on whether the government would further strengthen restrictions, after warnings from scientists on Saturday that they may need to be stricter.

"People need to not just follow the letter of the rules but follow the spirit as well and play their part," he said.

His comments came after Home Secretary Priti Patel defended police over enforcing lockdown rules following the case of two women who were fined for going for a walk five miles from their homes - a decision which is now under review.

The government has launched a campaign telling people to act like they have got the virus in a bid to tackle the rise in infections.

Under the national lockdown, people in England must stay at home and can go out only for limited reasons such as food shopping, exercise, or work if they cannot do so from home. Similar measures are in place across much of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Prof Horby, who is chairman of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), said there may be "early signs that something is beginning to bite" in terms of the restrictions - but if they did not then stricter measures would be needed.

He told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show: "I really hope people take this very seriously. It was bad in March, it's much worse now.

"We've seen record numbers across the board, record numbers of cases, record numbers of hospitalisations, record numbers of deaths."

Prof Horby said tougher measures might include those during the March lockdown, such as people only being able to exercise once a day and stricter rules about meeting people.

"We are in a situation where everything that was risky in the past is now more risky," he said.