‘Professor lockdown’ rules out future Covid lockdowns in the UK
“Professor lockdown” has indicated future Covid lockdowns are unlikely to be needed to curb the spread of the virus in the UK.
Speaking to The Times, Neil Ferguson said: “I think it’s unlikely we will need a new lockdown or even social distancing measures of the type we’ve had so far.”
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A resumption of normal behaviour exhibited before the onset of the pandemic among the UK population has failed to fully materialise.
Many Brits are still limiting the frequency of social contact despite the lifting of almost all Covid measures in the UK.
Covid is “going to transition quite quickly in a few months to be more something we live with and manage through vaccination rather than crisis measures,” Ferguson said.
Lingering concerns about contracting a deadlier strain of Covid despite high rates of vaccination among those over the age of 18 and attempts to evade being “pinged” by the NHS Covid-19 app are steering people toward continuing to practice cautious behaviour.
Figures compiled for the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies up to July 27 show that adults are still having an average of little more than three contacts a day, compared with 10-11 before the pandemic.
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