England 'may have to have lockdowns' this winter, says SAGE adviser

Director for Covid-19 at Public Health England (PHE) and SAGE adviser Dr Susan Hopkins has said that England may “have to have lockdowns” this winter if coronavirus cases rise to a point of hospitals becoming overwhelmed.

Speaking on the Andrew Marr show on Sunday (June 20), Dr Hopkins added, however, that the UK hopes to move towards tackling the virus using vaccines and tests instead of lockdowns, and said that the effect of vaccination is already becoming evident.

She also confirmed that there may be alternatives to self-isolation for those with both vaccinations in the near future.

She told the Andrew Marr show:

“We are definitely seeing some signals in some areas of cases slowing down, Bolton for example has definitely reversed, Blackburn and Darwen has stabilised.

“But there are other parts of the country, particularly in some parts of the north-east, some parts of London that are still rising quite fast.

“So I think this is not all doing the same thing all over the country, and we’re seeing rises and falls as people go out and get tested and I think we are seeing the impact of vaccination and that is good news.

“The extra time to vaccinate more people, get two doses of vaccination in as many people as possible will hopefully mean that what we’re seeing with this wave won’t look the same as the previous waves that we’ve seen in this country.”