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The coronavirus lockdown tier system in use in England “was not very well thought out,” said a government scientific adviser.
Under current plans, a regional tiered system is established to replace the national blockade when it ends on December 2nd.
However, Professor John Edmunds, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), cautioned that reverting to the lowest alert level in the regional level system, Level 1, when the lockdown ends would be “very unwise”.
“The problem with the tier system is that tier 1 not long ago, tier 2 probably has some effect, but not much, and tier 3 seems to be able to contain the epidemic,” he said.
Experts are not convinced that the locking system is working
“The problem with the tier system is that you inevitably end up with quite a few high-incidence places under those circumstances.
“Because Level 1 and Level 2 eventually drift to Level 3 with a high incidence, and then Level 3 keeps it there.”
He added: “Frankly, it was not a very well thought out strategy.”
Professor Edmunds, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, also urged the government to use a long-term strategy when it comes to balancing the economy and the pandemic.
“We need to have a long-term view and be sensible and realize that we are going to have to have restrictions for some time,” he said.
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“Yes, we can lift them when it is safe to do so, which will be mainly when a large number of people have been vaccinated.
“But switching between encouraging people to mingle socially, which is what you’re doing by encouraging people to go to restaurants and bars, and then shutting them down immediately, is not a very sensible way to control the epidemic.”
Meanwhile, another 462 people have died within 28 days of positive test for COVID-19 starting on Saturday.
As of 9 a.m. Saturday, another 26,860 laboratory-confirmed coronavirus cases had been recorded in the UK, slightly down from 27,301 on Friday.
The work has also called for emergency legislation to “eradicate dangerous anti-vax content” following promising preliminary results from the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine.
