Slow spread of virus so NHS can keep going, warns Yorkshire medic Alison Pittard at Number 10 press conference

In a Number 10 press conference, NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens that the second wave of coronavirus was "real" and "serious" as he urged the nation to help medics to their vital work.

It came as Prime Minister Boris Johnson said people should be able to have "as normal as Christmas as possible" if they follow the lockdown measures imposed this week which will last until at least December 2.

Sir Simon said the 11,000 coronavirus patients currently in hospital "compares with 3,000 patients that we would typically have in hospital on any one day during a very bad winter flu season, for flu"

He added that around 30,000 staff in the health service were either off with coronavirus or having to self-isolate, and "that has an impact".

That underlined the need to control the spread of coronavirus in order to protect the care that could be offered in the NHS, he said.

"Our success in controlling community transmission of coronavirus also is a force multiplier, to what the NHS itself can then provide in the way of care," he told the press conference.

He added: "There is this slogan 'protect the NHS', I think from the point of view of people working in the NHS what that really means is, 'help us help you, protect our ability to offer the full range of health services, the routine operations, the cancer treatment, the mental health services, the community nursing, that is required'.

"Staff are working flat out, the good news is we've got more nurses, 13,000 more than we had a year ago. The coronavirus affects NHS staff, just like everybody else and this has been an incredibly stressful time.

"So, I think I can put is no better in conclusion than the words of an intensive care doctor that I was with yesterday, Dr. Allison Pittard, who said: 'In the here and now, we can't stop cancer developing, in the here and now we can't immediately prevent heart attacks or strokes, hospitals have of course got to respond.

"'But we can reduce the spread of coronavirus in the community. And that is what we need to do to be able to care for everybody who needs it'"

Dr Pittard is described is described on the Royal College of Anesthetists website as being a Consultant in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine in Leeds since 1997.

During the press conference, Boris Johnson has said the four-week coronavirus lockdown in England will be enough to have a "real impact" on the spread of the disease.

The Prime Minister said that while many people were "anxious, weary and fed up" the measures were strictly time-limited.

"The advice I have received suggests that four weeks is enough for these measures to make a real impact," he said.

"These rules will expire and on December 2 we plan to move back to a tiered approach. There is light at the end of the tunnel.

"These are difficult times. While it pains me to have to ask once again once again for so many to give up so much, I know we can get through this."