By Social distancing could last until end of year unless vaccine found, chief medical officer suggests.
Professor Chris Whitty told the daily Downing Street press conference that some restrictions would need to remain as the probability of having a vaccine or effective drugs to treat the virus within the next calendar year was “incredibly small”.
As attention in government turns to the lockdown exit strategy, Professor Whitty also told the public that some forms of social distancing will need to be in place for a “long time”.
Extra signage regarding social distancing will hopefully be outlined in the roadmap of leaving lockdown in the coming weeks.
The Government has begun to plan how England can safely leave the third national lockdown, with a number of dates emerging for when key events are likely to happen.
The roadmap out of lockdown will include three stages, starting with the reopening of schools, then moving to shops and finally pubs. The roadmap is also likely to set out when domestic and foreign travel could start again.
Boris Johnson promises social distancing ‘to end by October 2021’. He told colleagues he had ‘more than enough’ of Covid-19, which he described as a ‘plague’ and an ‘alien invader’.
He continued to say ‘We’ve been through too much frustration and hardship just to settle for the status quo and to think that life can go on as it was before the plague. ‘It will not, because history teaches us that events of this magnitude, wars, famines, plagues, events that affect the vast bulk of humanity, as this virus has, they don’t just come and go … We can’t now define the mission of this country as merely to restore normality. That isn’t good enough.’
The comments come amid fears Boris Johnson could tighter the rules even further, after Nicola Sturgeon yesterday imposed more curbs in Scotland.
