WORCESTER News readers have mixed views on whether there should be a second lockdown to stop the spread of coronavirus.

The chance of the national lockdown appeared to increase after the government’s chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance and England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty warned the current situation required swift action at a press briefing earlier today.

Professor Whitty said: “At the moment, we think that the epidemic is doubling roughly every seven days.”

Meanwhile, slides in their briefing confirmed the deadly virus is spreading in Worcestershire. The total rate for the county, per 100,000 population based on pillar 1 and 2 lab confirmed Covid-19 cases in the seven days up to September 9 showed the county was in the 28.53 to 47.23 range.

And the change of rate, also per 100,000 population and based on pillar 1 and 2 cases in those seven days, was in the highest bracket of 51 to 98.

But in some good news Worcester was in the lowest, 0 to 16.03, bracket on the total rate, and the 1 to 10 bracket for the change of rate.

A poll of readers on the Worcester News website, asking if there now should be a national lockdown, had 60 per cent saying yes, 40 per cent no of 315 votes.

But when the same question was asked on the paper's Twitter account, of 296 votes, 55.7 per cent said no to 44.3 per cent who said yes.

READ MORE: Would you welcome a second national lockdown? Take part in our reader's poll

Asked if a second lockdown was now inevitable, city MP Robin Walker said: “The chief medical advisers have given their briefing about the risks, and it is important people pay attention.

“I don’t think it has to be inevitable that there will have to be nationwide restrictions.

“It depends on people not breaking the rule of six, for example.

"It is clearly a concerning period of time. People should take reasonable extra precautions where they can.

“It is really important that we remember we want to have a working economy, children in schools and the country working as well as possible.

READ MORE: UK could have 50,000 new Covid-19 cases a day by mid-October - health chiefs warn

"The government's very difficult job is to balance out those elements.

“I’m glad to see the number of people in hospital, and the number of deaths remain low locally, but of course that is something we need to continue to monitor."

The MP added he couldn’t speculate on what new necessary restrictions could be, but he said if steps had to be taken they "would not be taken lightly".

Asked about the recent testing problems, the MP added: “There have been challenges for people getting tests but part of that has been caused by a large number of people who are not symptomatic going to get a test, and that is something we need to avoid.”