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Some coronavirus restrictions may need to be reinstated to control the virus next winter, the medical director said.
At a press conference in Downing Street, Professor Chris Whitty warned that risks will continue to exist as the weather warms, saying: “We shouldn’t be fooling ourselves. [that] this just disappears with spring. “
He said, “If we didn’t do all the things we all need to do now, if people don’t take staying home seriously, the risk right now, in the dead of winter, with this new variant, is extraordinarily high.”
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Professor Chris Whitty said the number of cases and deaths was unlikely to reach zero.
He said the level of risk will gradually decrease over time and that measures “will be lifted gradually, possibly at different rates in different parts of the country, we will have to see.”
“Then over time, we will get to a point where people say that this level of risk is something that society is prepared to tolerate and eliminate until it has almost no restrictions,” he added.
But he continued to warn: “We may have to bring some in next winter, for example, that is possible, because winter will benefit the virus.”
Professor Whitty added that the vaccine will help reduce the threat of the virus to society.
It will not be a case of COVID-19 deaths dropping to zero, but rather there will be a manageable number of flu-like cases and deaths.
The professor said: “About 7,000 people die a year in an average year. [from the flu]. In a bad year, up to 20,000 people die a year.
“We accept that there is a level of risk that society will tolerate, and we should tolerate.
“People die, that’s one of the things that happens.
“And we have to [tolerate the risk] at some point. “
He added: “Zero risk is not something that is a realistic possibility.”
The warning came when the UK registered more than 60,000 people testing positive for coronavirus in one day for the first time.
Another 830 people died, according to the latest figures.
The increased numbers resulted in Prime Minister Boris Johnson sending England back to a full national shutdown Monday.
Johnson announced that 1.3 million people in the UK, 1.1 million of whom are in England, have already received the coronavirus vaccine.
