A top public health official has said he is “hopeful” that coronavirus infection rates will start to reduce in the week after Christmas under Tier 4 measures.

It comes as weekend figures suggested the new strain of the virus appears to be spreading rapidly in Hertfordshire with a record number of new cases (961) reported on a single day in the county, on Sunday. 

London and large swathes of the South East and East of England, including Hertfordshire, were placed in new Tier 4 measures on Sunday after scientists warned of the rapid spread of a new variant of coronavirus.

Jim McManus, Hertfordshire’s director of public health, said in a press briefing today (Tuesday) that the variant “may not be the dominant strain yet, but it looks like it will be”.

He said the spread of the new and more infectious strain of the virus will be curbed if the toughest measures “are really adhered to”.

Mr McManus explained that the biggest issue is social interaction between younger adults.

He said: “We can’t blame them for wanting to socially interact but if that doesn’t stop then we risk the spread continuing to rise until it peaks in of itself.

“So I’m hopeful that the week after Christmas will show signs of numbers reducing, if it doesn’t then that is a sign that more and more areas will be in Tier 4 by mid-January.”

Mr McManus added that the new strain “is much much more infectious” and that there are clusters of it around the south of England.

He said that currently when people are infectious they are seeing “a much higher load of the virus in their system”.

He added the variant seems to have started in 12-16 year olds and then moved into 17-24 year olds, before being pushed out to older adults.

Mr McManus said: “I think it is wise to assume that the virus has adapted to be more efficiently spread in younger people.”

He added: “What you have got is a situation where it would appear that teenagers have seeded the virus with older teenagers and younger adults and it has just flowed through, which is what viruses do when they hit general communities.

“Now we have wide spread community transmission.”

Speaking about supermarkets, Mr McManus said “we are in a dangerous position in term of transmission when they are busy and crowded”.

He said: “If we get loads of panic buying and loads of crowding and loads of people all stood next to each other in a supermarket, that will be a perfect environment for this virus to spread, regardless of whether people have face coverings on.

"We need everybody to get back to the measures that we had earlier in the year when there was queuing in our larger retailers, that people distanced and that you had hand sanitiser and face coverings.

“We will be working with the bigger retailers to ask them to show leadership in doing that.”