Meanwhile in the UK …
A SAGE adviser indicated today that a third national exclusion, including the closure of mass schools, would be needed to suppress Covid, as he insisted that ‘the people be kept apart’ that the virus spread.
Professor Sir Mark Walport claims that the ‘mutant’ strain of coronavirus is transmitted quickly among children, with ages between 12 and 16 being seven times more likely to ‘infect’ a household.
He was speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show while Liverpool’s leaders were asking for a cover, and it would be ‘very, very difficult’ to keep the disease under control ‘without stricter social distance measures’.
Sir Mark also suggested that the UK had struggled to maintain business because it was a ‘Western liberal democracy’, suggesting that draconian countermeasures adopted in non-aligned countries such as Vietnam had suppressed the virus.
Asked if Tier 4 restrictions are enough, the former scientific adviser said today: ‘These are the Tier 4 restrictions, they meet them.
‘We are thinking of essentially breaking every possible transmission route that we could possibly break. These are the things that are absolutely essential and it is clear that we are going to need more. ‘
He said of ‘mutant’ Covid: ‘We now have a much more transmissible variant and I’m afraid it’s the natural evolution of viruses.
‘Those who can transfer the best have an advantage over other variants, and it is therefore clear that this variant can be transferred more easily. It is also more easily transmitted in younger age groups.
‘It’s good to note that it does not cause worse diseases, or that it will be more resistant to the effects of the vaccine, but it is going to be very, very difficult to keep it under control without stricter social distance measures. . ‘
Sir Mark continues: ‘The thing that actually stops the virus, and we know it can, is to keep people apart. The virus can only come from one person to another through proximity, so it’s about doing everything in our power to keep ourselves as safe as possible. ‘
This is because Boris Johnson today refused to rule out an overall shutdown, telling Marr that he was ‘reconciled’ with imposing further restrictions on public life as the number of coronavirus cases increased.