Staying at home and waiting for the vaccine is not enough to stop the virus, a Sage member has warned.
Prof Andrew Hayward said last week that the UK could be heading towards a catastrophe if there was no national lockdown. Asked if the new restrictions would avert the catastrophe, he told the BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme: “The threat we’re facing is at least as bad as what we were facing in March, but the virus is different and it may be that the lockdown measures that we do have are not enough.
“So we do need to learn from the new insights and the new technology and we need to learn from the last lockdown.
He added: “You need to do more than stay at home and wait for the vaccine. We need to be bearing down on it.”
Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said the country was in for a “very difficult” few weeks and could give no firm date for lifting the lockdown.
