Coronavirus: UK will have 'big outbreaks' within weeks if social distancing rules are flouted again, WHO expert warns
The UK could be left facing major outbreaks of the Covid-19 coronavirus in the coming weeks if social distancing rules are ignored, a special envoy for the WHO has warned.
Saturday saw many pubs and bars open their doors in the England for the first time in more than 100 days as lockdown measures were eased to allow the hospitality industry to resume its trade.
However despite guidelines remaining that urge people to remain two meters apart if they do not use barriers like face masks, footage from the weekend showed revellers descending on hotspots including Lodon’s Soho district.
Now Dr David Nabarro, a World Health Organisation Covid-19 special envoy for Europe, has warned such scenes might trigger new infections and deaths in the country as well as large scale outbreaks.
“I do understand that everybody has got to have fun and people have been really frustrated with not being able to get out and about. But the virus hasn’t gone away.” he told Sky News’ Kay Burley.
“I just want to be clear that in the end it’s not going to be the government who makes decisions on how we’re all going to live with this virus. It’s up to us.”
“And so, ok, for the time being perhaps people are taking it likely“ he added, “But if we do, as I suspect we might, get some big outbreaks coming up in the next few weeks, that will pretty quickly remind us that we are going to have to be more careful.”
And as the months go by because the virus isn’t going to suddenly go away we’ve all got to learn to treat it with the respect it deserves, and then we’ll be able to live with it in order to try and keep the number of deaths down.
It comes after Boris Johnson urged people not to "stuff this up" after lockdown restrictions were eased in England.
Mr Johnson said he was not shocked by some of the scenes over the weekend because "I understand what human nature is" but added that the overwhelming majority had behaved sensibly.
It comes after his government urged people to go out and spend in a bid to reinvigorate the economy in the wake of the nationwide lockdown.
"There is a risk that some people will not obey the guidelines, that's always going to be there," he said.
"But the overwhelming majority of people have and so far we think that the measures and the package is working.
"But we cannot be complacent, we really can't afford to stuff this up, to blow it now.
"We have got to keep going in the prudent way that we are."
Additional reporting by PA
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