BRITAIN might have to reintroduce coronavirus measures NEXT winter to keep cases down, Professor Chris Whitty suggested tonight.
The Chief Medical Officer said he hoped not to have to put in place more rules, but the virus would not “go away” and would likely pose a problem next Christmas too.
Harsh coronavirus laws will be lifted over time, he said tonight. Boris Johnson has said that will begin when 13 million vulnerable people are vaccinated.
But he admitted the virus will not just disappear, and will mean some rules will have to return next winter, when bugs are more easy to spread.
He said tonight: “Things will be lifted stage by stage.
“We will then get, over time, to a point where people say this level of risk is one people will be able to tolerate and lift, right down to almost no restrictions at all.
“We might have to bring a few in in the next winter for example, that is possible, because winter will benefit the virus.
“But the aim of this is to de-risk it as much as possible with the vaccine, so we get to the stage where the risk is incredibly low.”
Professor Whitty said he hopes that the nation can get Covid to a level where the country can deal with – but said that some people will continue to die of it every year like flu.
He explained: “With flu, every year, around 7,000 a year die. In a bad year up to 20,000 a year die, there is a risk that society should tolerate
“That is a political decision, a societal decision.
“We can with the vaccine get the risk down and down.”
But the coronavirus is “not going to go away”, he added.
“We shouldn’t kid ourselves that this just disappears in Spring.
“We just need to keep an open mind about that.”
He promised that any rules would not be on the same scale as now – with lockdowns, masks and social distancing across the nation.
