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Professor Neil Ferguson warned that the UK could face another lockdown in the New Year if infection levels are not reduced after a second national lockdown.
The Imperial College epidemiologist, dubbed “Professor Lockdown,” said reducing infection rates “substantially” during the lockdown could see a relaxation of measures over Christmas and could “present some risks.”
The scientist went on to describe how “intermittent measures” would be anticipated in the midst of a pandemic and it would be “quite possible” that the measures would be revised in early January.
His comments come after Boris Johnson was catapulted Saturday into announcing a four-week full shutdown for England from Thursday through Dec. 2 amid a surge in coronavirus cases across the country.
Imperial College epidemiologist Professor Neil Ferguson warned that the UK could face another lockdown in early January.
Speaking to Times Radio Breakfast, he said: ‘If we can reduce infection levels substantially, we will be in a better position to relax things over Christmas than if they were still at current levels.
“Relaxation will inevitably pose some risks, lead to more transmission, but if that’s from a low baseline, the costs and damage it causes will be less than if we were at current levels.”
Professor Ferguson went on to say that data related to transmission rates should be reviewed over the next several weeks.
He continued: ‘Clearly, somehow it will be better to find the perfect set of measures to keep the transmission in check without having to go in and out of the lockdown.
‘It’s quite possible, unfortunately, that we have to review this again in early January or something like that.
“I very much hope we don’t, but I think everyone we’ve talked to says we need to see what the data shows in the coming weeks and adjust policy accordingly.”
Earlier today, Britain recorded its fewest daily coronavirus cases in fifteen days.
Figures from the Health Department showed that another 18,950 people had tested positive for the disease, 9.3 percent less in a week and the lowest since Monday, October 19 (18,804).
The UK also saw another 136 deaths from coronavirus, a 33.3 percent increase from the 102 laboratory-confirmed deaths published last week.
The figures came as Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer criticized the prime minister for delaying a national shutdown by 40 days as the death toll in the country continued to rise.
In the Commons today, Boris Johnson was criticized by Keir Starmer for wasting weeks refusing to enter a national lockdown.
Sir Keir said: ‘On September 21, when scientists from the Sage government recommended an urgent interruption of the circuit for two to three weeks, there were 11 deaths from Covid-19 and just over 4,000 infections from Covid.
For 40 days, the prime minister ignored that advice and when he finally announced a longer and deeper national lockdown on Saturday, those numbers had risen to 326 deaths a day and 22,000 Covid cases.
‘That is the human cost of government inaction. The reality is that the two pillars of the Prime Minister’s strategy, the £ 12bn Track and Trace and regional restrictions not only failed to stop the second wave, but were swept away by it.
‘At each stage, the prime minister has been too slow, behind the curve. At each stage, you’ve turned down challenges, ignored advice, and put what you expected to happen above what’s happening.
“ At every stage, he is over-promised and unfulfilled. Refusing the advice of his own scientists for 40 days was a catastrophic failure of leadership and judgment. ‘
Following the prime minister’s shutdown announcement on Saturday, Michael Gove suggested that England could also spend Christmas in full shutdown if the four-week shutdown in November did not lower transmission rates in the country.
Appearing on Sophy Ridge on Sky News, the Cabinet Office minister defended the prime minister’s latest move, saying the government would review the data in November.
When asked if the national blockade could be extended, he replied: ‘Yes’.
He said: ‘We want to be in a position where we can, and I think this is likely to be the case, have an approach where, if we reduce the infection rate enough, we can reduce measures at the national level and also to regional level.
‘Because the regional approach is one that, whenever possible, we want to adopt because again we recognize that it may be the case in the future that having reduced R below 1, having reduced national restrictions, we can see a specific increase in specific areas. which will require specific regional measures. ‘
But he added: “We will review it on December 2, but we will always be guided by what the data shows.”
