Covid spike imminent if travel ban not introduced, warns ex-Science Adviser

19 December 2020, 10:58

Former CSA: Travel bans should be brought in now

This former government adviser fears a 'dreadful new rise' in coronavirus cases after Christmas due to loose restrictions.

"I'm afraid that after Christmas we're going to see a dreadful new rise in the number of hospital cases and the number of deaths from this new disease" fears Professor Sir David King, former Chief Science adviser to the government.

He told Matt Frei that "transport restrictions should be introduced before Christmas" if we are to avoid a massive spike in cases.

Matt argued that even with the rollout of a vaccine, normality will not resume for some time. "We're going to be with this until the summer," accepted Professor King.

As a recipient of the vaccine, the former CSA admitted that "it's not going to be effective before the summer," until a bulk of the population have been inoculated.

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Matt was worried about the news of a new, more contagious strain of Covid-19 coinciding with the rollout of a vaccine.

"Is it possible that this new virus will make the existing vaccine that you've just had less effective?" He wondered.

The former CSA revealed that it is "unlikely" that the vaccine will be less effective as the new strain is of the same virus.

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