SAGE scientists warn of another Christmas lockdown

SAGE scientists are warning of another Christmas lockdown

Professor Peter Openshaw, of Imperial College London, is a member of Nervtag, and the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, SAGE subgroup, CO-CIN, that advises the British Government. He has stepped forward to voice his fears that the current coronavirus death rates in the UK are unacceptable. Openshaw has also urged the British public to act now to save another Christmas lockdown.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, the professor said, “I’m very fearful that we’re going to have another lockdown Christmas if we don’t act soon. We know that with public health measures the time to act is immediately. There’s no point in delaying”.

“We all really, really want a wonderful family Christmas where we can all get back together. If that’s what we want, we need to get these measures in place now, in order to get transmission rates right down, so that we can actually get together and see one another over Christmas. I think the hospitals in many parts of the country are barely coping actually”, continued the professor.

He continued, “Talking to people on the front line, I think it’s just not sustainable to keep going at this rate. I think it’s just unacceptable to see the number of deaths that we’ve got at the moment. At one stage last week there were 180 deaths in a single day. That is just too many deaths”.

Before adding, “We seem to have got used to the idea that we’re going to have many, many people dying of Covid, and that I think is just not the case. We need to slow down transmission, and really redouble efforts to get everyone vaccinated and all the boosters out, and then we can open up again”.

The return of working from home, and the use of facemasks, have been demanded of the Government in a joint statement from top unions in the country. Unions representing three million workers, including the TUC, Aslef, Unite, Usdaw, Unison, and the GMB, have all voiced their concerns over the high numbers of virus outbreaks in workplaces throughout the country, as well as the death toll.

Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, speaking with The Times, was of the opinion that a lockdown would not happen, although he did admit that this Winter would definitely be a challenge. “I think we’re just in a very different place to where we were a year ago, because of the vaccine. There’s this enormous wave of protection, and that changes things. That’s our first line of defence”, as reported by thesun.co.uk.

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