Scientists have said that lessons need to be learned from the mistakes made previously in relaxing locking measures too quickly, PA reports.
A number of experts have called for a cautious, forward-looking approach Boris Johnsonannounced next Monday on a “roadmap” for lifting restrictions.
The Prime Minister is under pressure from some quarters to put a quick discount on the lock, behind the successful distribution of the vaccines.
But Dr. Niall Ferguson, which advises the government as part of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Risk Advisory Group (Nervtag), said more information was needed on the effectiveness of vaccines.
He told Good Morning Britain:
We have results from scientific studies, clinical trials, but the real world is different and so, again as the government has said, we need to see how much protection people with vaccine, as soon as death rates come down before we can be completely confident about taking that next step and reopening.
Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, we told BBC Breakfast that “sustainable exit” where steps are taken in a way that does not bring down another lockdown was “an important part of our considerations”.
Ferguson said he had been encouraged by the government’s prudent strategy so far, saying: “What we don’t want to repeat is what has happened in the past – it’s to rest before soon. ”
Responding to this comment, Dr. Gabriel Scally, the president of the epidemiology and public health department of the Royal Society of Medicine, said there needed to be a strategic plan to reduce mitigation by driving the virus down.
Scally, a member of Independent Sage, said things need to come down regularly, saying: “We cannot repeat the mistakes we have made in the past by removing restrictions in areas where lots of viruses circulating. ”
Ferguson said he felt it was “very likely” that all schools in England would reopen on March 8 but said it would then take two to three weeks to look how it affected case numbers.
He said:
The modeling that we and other UK organizations and universities have been suggesting is that there may be a way to reopen all schools.
But of course that carries a bit more of a risk than just, for example, the reopening of primary schools.
He described it as a “balancing act”, but said: “My overall view is that we may have room to reopen schools. ”