Christmases for next five years could be hampered by Covid, expert warns

Scientist warns ‘we’re not doing enough’ to stop the spread of coronavirus

A ‘combination of measures’ will be needed to deal with coronavirus, not just vaccination, Professor Tim Spector said (PA)

A leading scientist has warned that the next five Christmases could be impacted by coronavirus.

Professor Tim Spector, who has been tracking the pandemic with his ZOE Covid Symptom Study, said that the country could not afford to be complacent about the disease.

When asked if he thought enough was being done to avoid lockdowns and allow people to safely celebrate Christmas this year, Professor Spector replied: “We’re not doing enough.”

Speaking at a Royal Society of Medicine virtual briefing, the Kings College London professor warned that people should not only be concerned about this Christmas but “Christmases for the next five years”.

He said that the position taken last year that “we have to get through this winter and it’ll be fine” had been shown to be naive.

He added: “That’s clearly turning out not to be the case as we realise that vaccines alone, even in countries that have got higher vaccination rates than ours, are not the sort of final solution to this, that we need a combination of measures.”

Professor Spector suggested that Covid-19 will “become like a permanent flu outbreak we have to deal with.”

He admitted that though vaccines helped to limit the seriousness and the spread of the infection, they could not prevent every case of Covid-19.

He said that other measures would be needed to “somehow control Covid.”

“It’s a combination of vaccines and medicine, but also we need to keep some measures in place to keep numbers down and we’re not doing that,” Professor Spector added.

“That’s why, in the past three months, we’ve had the highest rates, not only for cases but hospitalisations, in Western Europe.

“How high we want those rates to be is determined by our complacency and our relaxation to some of the rules we had in place that last year, I thought were over the top, and now this year I think are insufficient.”

England’s deputy chief medical officer, Professor Jonathan Van Tam, said on Friday that this year’s Christmas could still be at risk from Covid-19.

He told the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicines conference that “the epidemiology is rather uncertain, it could turn for the better, it could also turn for the worst.

“And even if it turns for the better in the next couple of weeks, that’s a different question to will it stay for the better between now and the Spring.”

He added that there would be some “bumps and twists and turns” along the road.