THE government’s “incompetence, negligence, misconduct, lack of vision and sheer immorality” is responsible for Covid deaths hitting 1,000 a week, campaigners said today.

Zero Covid pointed out that the weekly number of deaths in Britain is equivalent to the toll from three fatal air crashes.

There have been more than 20,000 “excess” deaths since July and over two million people are suffering from “long Covid,” including children, the campaign group said.

Zero Covid welcomed new restrictions introduced by the government, but it said that they were insufficient to contain the contagion.

Warning that the “pandemic is still in full swing,” a statement said: “We can’t carry on like this. Transmission rates must be brought right down, and if a lockdown is to be avoided, extra safety measures must be introduced now.”

The group condemned the government’s awarding of contracts for the failed test and trace system to its cronies in the private sector.

£37 billion in taxpayers’ cash has already been handed to profit-driven companies that lack experience in such work and thousands of pounds a day continues to be paid to them, Zero Covid said, adding that test and trace should be run by the public sector.

“The murky contracts with private companies run by government cronies and with unregulated private laboratories must be scrapped and the funding used to build up our public health system,” the group said.

Zero Covid said that it was crucial that people needing to self-isolate receive financial, medical and practical support and that schools be made safe through improved ventilation, air filters in classrooms and increased mask-wearing.

It called for more support for businesses and workers, with compensation for those whose livelihoods are affected.