A government science advisor has warned that the next two weeks are “extremely crucial” to making sure England exit from lockdown on December 2 as planned.
SAGE’s Professor Susan Michie says the next two weeks will define the restrictions that will be in place when the country comes out of lockdown – ultimately it decides whether people will be able to spend Christmas with loved ones.
The behavioral scientist urged the public to not be satisfied with Announcing a possible Coronavirus vaccine Because it “makes no difference” to the current wave.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4, Professor Michi said: “ It’s too early to tell. I think the next two weeks will be very crucial.
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Two weeks will be very difficult, partly because of the weather, and partly because, I think, because the promise of a vaccine can make people feel good.
But it is unlikely that the vaccine will come until the end of the year or the beginning of next year and this will not make a difference in the current second wave.
So I think over the next couple of weeks, everyone has to put all their determination together.
The senior professor asked people to “really pay attention to resisting any incentives to break the rules” because adhering to national restrictions would result in an “increased chance” of exit from lockdown.
It comes as newly released documents – written the day before the second national lockdown were imposed – reveal a subset of Sage models that have raised concerns about a return to the class system.
Modeling found that if the closure is “well adhered,” it is likely to reduce copy count to less than one.
In this scenario, hospital admissions and deaths are expected to decline until at least the second week of December.
However, Add document November 4: “If England reverts to the same rating system applied before November 5, the transmission will revert to the same rate of increase as today.”
Other documents from late October indicate that any hopes for families who gather during the holiday season will also depend on the R value remaining below one “for some time”.
Sage announced Friday that the UK’s R number has dropped to 1-1.2, with experts believing it is already less than one in some places.
It is hoped that R will decline in more areas over the next two weeks as the English public remains under lockdown restrictions.
Government data show 462 people have died after testing positive for the Coronavirus In the past 24 hours, the death toll in the United Kingdom rose to 51,766.
There were also 26,860 new cases across the country – down slightly from the 27,301 recorded on Friday.
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