Professor Peter Openshaw, a member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), said preventative measures such as working from home and mask-wearing are “so important” as the country attempts to battle back against the spread of coronavirus.
Covid infections have been rapidly on the rise over recent days, and on Friday the Government confirmed a further 49,298 lab-confirmed cases, along with another 180 people who had died within 28 days of testing positive for coronavirus.
But Professor Openshaw of Imperial College London told BBC Breakfast: "I think we all are desperate to get back to normal life and I can absolutely understand why the Government is listening to pressure from industry and its own inclinations to really open up, but the figures at the moment really do show we've got too many cases out there.
However, Professor Openshaw has urged the Government to put some preventative measures back in place.
“We know that with public health measures the time to act is immediately.
“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.”
On Friday, the Prime Minister insisted another Covid lockdown is not on the cards and that there is no need to introduce a "Plan B" yet, which would involve mask mandates, work-from-home orders and vaccine passports
When asked about the possibility of another lockdown over winter, Mr Johnson said: "I've got to tell you at the moment that we see absolutely nothing to indicate that that is on the cards at all."
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