The UK is going to have to live with some form of “socially disruptive measures” for at least the rest of the year, England’s chief medical officer has said.
Speaking at the daily government coronavirus briefing on Wednesday, Chris Whitty explained that an exit from the lockdown and social distance measures imposed since the outbreak required a “highly effective vaccine and/or highly effective drugs”.
The chance of having both by the end of this year was “incredibly small” and until then the UK would need to rely on disruptive social distancing measures, he said.
“This disease will not be eradicated, it will not disappear.
“In the long run, the exit from this is going to be one of two things, ideally.
“A vaccine, and there are a variety of ways they can be deployed… or highly effective drugs so that people stop dying of this disease even if they catch it, or which can prevent this disease in vulnerable people.
“Until we have those, and the probability of having those any time in the next calendar year are incredibly small and I think we should be realistic about that, we’re going to have to rely on other social measures, which of course are very socially disruptive, as everyone is finding at the moment
“But until that point, that is what we will have to do but it will be the best combination that maximises the outlooks. But it’s going to take a long time and I think we need to be aware of that.”
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However, the downward movement in deaths in other countries has been fairly slow and the UK should expect the same, he added.
“Even in those countries which started their epidemic curve earlier than the UK, and which are still ahead, the downward slope from the point where we change is a relatively slow one.
“We should anticipate the same situation in the UK. We should not expect this to be a sudden fall away of cases.”
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