LONDON (UK) – The government’s scientific adviser Jeremy Farrar said a three-week national lockdown has to be imposed immediately to stop the coronavirus infections from spiralling, adding that the regional lockdowns were ineffective.
“The current tiered restrictions will not bring the transmission rates down sufficiently or prevent the continued spread of the virus,” he said.
“A three-week period of nationally increased restrictions, with the right levels of financial support, will allow us to reset before winter, stop transmission spiralling, protect and prepare health services, give time to get the test-trace-isolate systems fully functional, and save lives,” he said.
Farrar is the director of the Wellcome Trust and a member of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies. He said there should be an immediate response as delaying it would only worsen the crisis.
He said it should have been introduced three weeks ago, but it was not too late either.
Meanwhile, senior minister Michael Gove said a three-week lockdown, known as a “circuit breaker”, was not being considered.
“The spread and the nature of the disease do not merit that approach at the moment,” he told.