Social Distancing May Be Here ALL YEAR

SCIENTISTS warn the UK government that social distancing may be here ALL YEAR

Just as the country begins to look towards February and a possible ‘road map’ out of lockdown, scientists in the UK have issued a stark warning to the government that it may be necessary to maintain social distancing rules for the entirety of 2021. According to data from the University of Warwick and reported by The Telegraph, the experts believe that a “high uptake” of the Covid-19 vaccine is vital to prevent a dreaded fourth wave of the pandemic, but that in reality, although it is known that no jab will be 100 per cent effective, restrictions can’t be eased until at least 85 per cent efficacy is reached.

The research, commissioned by the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (SPI-M), a sub-group of the government’s SAGE advisory committee, has warned that if lockdown is eased in February as seems to be the plan, the country could be hit by yet another wave of coronavirus in April.

According to one of the researchers of the paper, Dr Sam Moore:

‘Our predictions highlight the population-level risks of early relaxation, leading to a pronounced wave of infection, hospital admissions and deaths.

‘Only vaccines that offer high infection-blocking efficacy with high uptake in the general population allow relaxation of non-pharmaceutical interventions without a huge surge in deaths.’

Dr Moore told the Telegraph: ‘The vaccines are not going to be 100% effective at stopping serious disease.

‘If we get very high infection blocking then this could almost be what delivers us from it, but it would have to be very high.’

The Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has been playing his cards close to his chest regarding relexation of restrictions, but he has warned that any ‘plans to reopen our economy and society’ will all depend on how many people received the Covid jab.

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