England’s chief medical officer has warned MPs that revising the government’s roadmap to emerge from lockdown sooner than planned would risk a more serious third wave of Covid infections.
Prof Chris Whitty said he expected a surge of infections once restrictions were lifted but that exiting lockdown faster, when fewer people are vaccinated, would send more people into hospital and lead to more deaths.
The roadmap for emerging from lockdown includes a five-week pause between each major step to give scientists time to gather and analyse data. Whitty said he would “strongly advise” against moves to shorten that time in an effort to unlock sooner.
“It is really important that we do not give any impression that what we are expecting is this just goes away and there are no further deaths,” Whitty said. “That is not realistic and I think to pretend that to the British public would be completely wrong.”
A third wave could arrive in late summer or be pushed back into the autumn and winter, Whitty said, depending on how prevalent the virus was when the country unlocked and how effective the vaccine was, alongside other measures such as mask-wearing, hand-washing and test and trace.
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