London, Sep 26 (IANS): London Mayor Sadiq Khan has urged UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to ban household visits immediately, claiming the Covid-19 situation in the capital city was much worse than first believed, the media reported on Saturday.

Speaking to the Guardian, Khan warned that a 43 per cent fall in testing across the city has masked the severity of the second Covid-19 wave, saying the real infection rate was not far behind hotspots in the north-east, reports the Metro newspaper.

He accused the government of "pointing the finger at the public" for the spike in new cases and "not learning lessons" from when the virus initially hit the country earlier this year.

Khan further said that Johnson was "surprised" when he requested additional measures in London, including a ban on household visits, in their first conversation on Tuesday since May.

"We all knew that in September there would be a greater need for testing. I'm really angry. It's another example of lessons not being learned.

"You can explain the delay, incompetence in March. There's no excuse now," the Mayor was quoted as saying.

Khan's remarks come as London is placed on the national coronavirus watch list, with the capital city reported 620 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, more than double the number at the start of the week.

On Friday, the UK registered another single-day case record.

With 6,874 new cases, the overall tally has increased to 425,766, while the death toll stood at 42,025.