NHS Confederation chief executive Danny Mortimer has called for the public’s support to ensure that non-COVID services remain open by following ‘national guidance’.

“The NHS remains open for all of the public’s health needs but will again need their support in following the national guidance on social distancing and infection control ahead of the expected lockdown in England to give it a fighting chance of continuing to deliver the same levels of non-COVID care,” said Mortimer.

Yesterday, NHS England moved into its highest alert level, which means that staff can be redeployed around the country if COVID-19 treatment looks like it may overwhelm local services.

NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens warned that the COVID-19 pressure would be exacerbated by flu and other winter conditions, which usually bring in 3,000 extra people to hospitals in the season.

"However well-prepared hospitals, the NHS, GP surgeries are, it is going to be a difficult period,” Stevens told the BBC.

England moved into a new four-week lockdown Thursday 5 November, in a bid to curb rapidly growing coronavirus cases in the country.

The new rules mean that non-essential shops, pubs and gyms are now closed, and households are banned from mixing indoors or in private gardens – unless within a support bubble.

“While the national lockdown in England is to be in place for four weeks, we must be guided by the science and how all our hospitals, mental health, ambulance, community and primary care services are coping,” said Mortimer.

“The early lifting of the lockdown without a viable regional alternative and vastly improved test and trace system could be catastrophic, particularly as we head towards the challenges of winter,” he added.