Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty warns stay-at-home rules could return in winter

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Will there be a winter lockdown? Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty warns stay-at-home rules could return if UK is hit with second wave of coronavirus when summer ends

  • Professor Whitty also stressed the UK was still only in middle of the pandemic
  • Infection rates could rise again as temperatures drop and people migrate inside 
  • Professor Whitty did not elaborate on what ‘combination’ of measures would have to be reintroduced 
  • Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19

By Sophie Borland Health Editor For The Daily Mail

Published: | Updated:

Lockdown measures could be reinforced this winter because the virus will have certain ‘advantages’, the Chief Medical Officer warned yesterday.

Professor Chris Whitty also stressed the country was still only in the middle of the pandemic, not nearing the end.

He pointed out that the virus ‘transmits more easily indoors’ and suggested the infection rates could start to rise again as temperatures dropped and people migrated inside.

Lockdown measures could be reinforced this winter because the virus will have certain ‘advantages’, Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty warned yesterday

Professor Whitty did not elaborate on what ‘combination’ of measures would have to be reintroduced but they could include avoiding seeing other households or closing restaurants and pubs if they have been reopened over the summer.

He told the Downing Street press conference: ‘We all think there is a reasonable chance that, in the winter, this virus will have some advantages it doesn’t have at the rest of the year.

Chief Medical Officer’s regrets on testing 

The Chief Medical Officer has conceded that the Government should have done more to speed up testing at the beginning of the outbreak.

Asked to name one of his regrets, Professor Chris Whitty said there was a long list of things that needed to be looked at ‘seriously’, with testing in first position. Speaking in Downing Street he said: ‘If I was to choose one, it would probably be looking at how we could… speed up testing very early on in the epidemic.

‘Many of the problems that we have had came because we were unable to actually work out exactly where we were.’

‘It’s something that transmits more easily indoors, for example, and therefore things that are working well in summer and autumn may cease to be working well in winter.

‘We need to know what combination of measures we might have to introduce or reintroduce at that stage to cover a difficult period of the year.’ And Professor Whitty warned: ‘Be very clear, we are not at the end of this epidemic, not by a long shot. We are in the middle of it.’

When asked if he was ‘comfortable’ with the pace at which the lockdown was being eased, he replied that the current approach was ‘reasonable’ as long as the public stuck to the rules.

‘We are obviously having, in Government, to balance a large number of risks… but what you are trying to do is manage those risks as best we can with the information we have to minimise the risk for the bad outcome and to maximise the possibility of a good outcome.

‘But the idea that there is some option that is completely safe and all fine is clearly not true.

‘So what we think is that this is reasonable – provided people hear what the Prime Minister is saying and stick to what [he] is saying and don’t try and extend it out.’

Sir Patrick Vallance, the UK’s chief scientific adviser, said that although the crucial ‘R’ transmission rate was below one across the country, the Government would have to continue to be cautious in how the lockdown was eased.

He said: ‘The R is below one, but perhaps only just below one. The epidemic is shrinking, but not fast. Numbers are coming down but are not yet very low.

‘The vast majority of the population remains susceptible to the infection.’ 

Sir Patrick Vallance, the UK's chief scientific adviser, said the Government needed to continue to be cautious in how the lockdown was eased

Sir Patrick Vallance, the UK’s chief scientific adviser, said the Government needed to continue to be cautious in how the lockdown was eased

GPs may refuse to give patients antibody check

Patients may be refused antibody tests to discover whether they have had coronavirus. GPs have been told they are under no obligation to offer the tests as it will increase their workload.

The British Medical Association says they should use their clinical judgement to decide who is checked.

Surgeries are already braced for a surge of patients who avoided making appointments during lockdown.

One regional body of GPs – in Kent – has told members they can refuse to provide the tests on the basis that they will create a substantial extra workload for no additional cash.

A positive antibody test may show a patient has some immunity against the virus but there is limited evidence on how long this lasts. Even so, NHS England guidelines issued two weeks ago say GPs should offer the check to those having blood tests for other reasons who wish to know if they have had Covid-19.

However Richard Vautrey, who chairs the BMA’s GP Committee, said offering the tests was ‘not obligatory’.

He told Pulse magazine: ‘There is no clinical benefit of just having an antibody test and we wouldn’t want to see that driving up inappropriate attendance in GP surgeries.’