Face-masks may be needed next winter, chief scientific adviser warns

Scientists warn Covid-19 will not be eradicated by vaccines

Face-coverings may be necessary in certain situations next winter, even after all the UK’s adults have been vaccinated, Boris Johnson’s chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance has warned.

And chief medical officer Chris Whitty said that infections and deaths from Covid-19 can be expected to continue for years into the future.

Both made clear at a Downing Street press conference that they do not expect coronavirus to be entirely eradicated from the UK.

But they said they expect the disease to become a manageable problem comparable to winter flu.

Sir Patrick’s comments came a day after US president Joe Biden’s medical adviser Anthony Fauci said it was “possible” Americans would still be wearing masks into 2022.

Speaking alongside Boris Johnson at a Downing Street press conference, Prof Vallance said: “It’s possible that, coming into next winter in particular, certain things may be necessary. 

“Tony Fauci yesterday said in the US that he thought that things like masks may be needed next winter.

“I think we’re in the same position, that it may be necessary next winter to have things like mask-wearing in certain situations.”

Prof Vallance said that mask-wearing was among a set of measures which can be expected to be a “baseline” requirement during winter months.

But he said that these would not be on the same scale as the kind of restrictions on social and economic life imposed during lockdown, which he referred to as NPIs, or “non-pharmaceutical interventions”.

Hand hygiene should remain part of the norm,” he said. “Making sure that if we get the sorts of symptoms that we know are associated with Covid, we stay off work. 

“Having an effective test, trace and isolate system still in place will be an important part of the baseline measures that we’re talking about. 

“And taking individual responsibility for thinking about where there’s an environment in which there could be a risk, particularly during the winter months.

“These are the sorts of things that I think we should expect for next winter. 

“That’s not the same as a whole raft of NPIs in place, restricting movement. 

“Now, all of this depends on what we see and what we measure and how this goes. I’m not making any promises about anything. But those are the sorts of measures that you might expect, I think as a sort of baseline to be required during winter months.”

Prof Whitty repeated his earlier warnings that Covid will continue to claim lives even after all Britons are vaccinated and the pandemic is over, as inoculations are not successful in providing protection in all cases.

He told the press conference: “Every year, in the UK as in every other country, you get substantial numbers of people dying from respiratory infections.

“Flu is the one everyone thinks about. An average year might see about 9,000 people a year. Bad years, it’s significantly more than that. 

“But you also have pneumonia, you have adenoviruses, there are lots of other respiratory infections. 

“I’m afraid for the foreseeable future, coronavirus is going to be added to that list of things that those who are vulnerable, even despite vaccination, can be at risk of.

“We vaccinate against flu, we vaccinate against pneumococcal pneumonia. And still there are cases and there are deaths. 

“This is something where the vaccinations will get the rates right down, but they will not get rid of this. 

“In my view is likely to be a problem, in particular in the winter, for the next few winters.”