Weddings and sporting events may be restricted to small groups for years to come, experts have warned.
People might not be able to have big weddings or attend sports events for long after the country has come out of lockdown, Professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London Tim Spector said.
He told Times Radio that the Government may have to enforce the restrictions for longer to prevent further coronavirus outbreaks and ‘allow us to do the things we really want to do more easily and more readily’.
‘I can’t see us having massive weddings with people coming from all over the world, I think for the next few years those days are gone,’ he said.
The Professor also encouraged ministers to allow groups of six to meet outdoors around the same time that primary schools start to return to classrooms. The Government currently plans to reopen schools on March 8.
He believes beer gardens can be more controlled than gatherings taking place in people’s homes or private gardens.
‘Generally most establishments are well-behaved, and I think they clean the tables and people keep their distance and I see no reason why we couldn’t move towards that in places that are well set up for it,’ he said.
Boris Johnson is set to reveal the Government’s roadmap out of lockdown on February 22. Lockdown could begin easing on March 8, with children returning to schools being ministers’ top priority.
But despite the UK’s successful vaccine rollout, NHS bosses have warned that infection rates need to drop before lockdown is lifted. The chief executive of NHS Providers, Chris Hopson, said the Prime Minister should wait for infections to fall to 1,000 a day.
This would be a 95% drop from infections numbers currently as Sunday recorded 15,845 new infections.
While the numbers don’t look hopeful, the country’s R rate is now 0.7 – the first time it has been below one since July last year.
It comes as the Government is said to be looking at stepping up its vaccine rollout by sending medics to offices and workplaces.
It would mean that people could be vaccinated without going to hospitals, GPs or vaccination hubs and more vaccines could be administered at the same time.
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