The UK government is being called on to enact other non-vaccine measures to tackle rising numbers of Covid cases
(AP)
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that the vaccine alone will not be able to lift the world out of the pandemic.
It comes as PM Boris Johnson is urging people eligible for a Covid booster vaccine to get theirs before the winter months.
It comes while those eligible for the third jab have been slow to book their appointments.
Cases have been rising over the past week to between 40,000 and 50,000 new cases per day for the last week – sparking fears for hospitalisation and death rates over the festive season.
WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris told Times Radio: “The problem is focusing on one thing, the vaccine isn’t going to get us out of this.
“We really have to do other measures.
“We have got to be serious about not crowding. We have still got to be looking at wearing the masks, when you’re indoors particularly.”
Senior scientific advisers to the government have told ministers to start preparing for the “rapid deployment” of basic Covid measures such as the return of compulsory mask-wearing and working from home.
Local authorities have urged Downing Street to “act now, rather than later”, and unions have warned that “without decisive action now” that the UK will be “sleepwalking into another winter of chaos”.
‘No point delaying’ Plan B measures before Christmas
A member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), which advises the government, said he fears another “lockdown Christmas”.
On BBC Breakfast this morning, Professor Peter Openshaw was asked what people can expect from Christmas if government policy does not change to implement “Plan B” measures during this stage of the pandemic with daily Covid case numbers rising.
Speaking in a personal capacity, Prof Openshaw of Imperial College London said: “I’m very fearful that we’re going to have another lockdown Christmas if we don’t act soon.
“We know that with public health measures the time to act is immediately. There’s no point in delaying.
“If you do delay then you need to take even more stringent actions later. The immediacy of response is absolutely vital if you’re going to get things under control.
“We all really, really want a wonderful family Christmas where we can all get back together.
“If that’s what we want, we need to get these measures in place now in order to get transmission rates right down so that we can actually get together and see one another over Christmas.”
The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) has also urged Downing Street to “act now rather than later”.
Our science correspondent Samuel Lovett reports
Lamiat Sabin23 October 2021 09:30
Poorer countries must be vaccinated to prevent variants – WHO
The rest of the world must be vaccinated to stop new Covid variants from developing, WHO’s spokesperson Margaret Harris has warned.
She went on Times Radio to say that vaccines are not the only solution to bringing down case numbers in the UK.
But she added that more needs to be done to vaccinate people in other countries.
Ms Harris said: “What’s really going to have an effect on transmission for all of us is making sure there is as little virus as possible circulating around the world.
“The most high priority groups are those that are exposed to the virus all the time, healthcare workers, yet only one in 10 are vaccinated in Africa currently.
“We’re in such a bad place in much of the world, we’re going to see more variants develop, we’re going to see more transmission, and even if magically the vaccine protected one population as effectively as we hoped a variant then could develop and undo all of that work.”
Lamiat Sabin23 October 2021 09:12
Good morning. Welcome to The Independent’s liveblog on news related to the UK’s response to the ongoing Covid pandemic.
Lamiat Sabin23 October 2021 09:08
