Professor Neil Ferguson told the Commons Science and Technology Committee the new strain of coronavirus is “everywhere now”, but said he anticipated the impact of new Tier 4 restrictions and revised strict measures over Christmas elsewhere would have a beneficial impact.
He said: “Schools are now shut, we are in a near-lockdown situation across the country.
“Contact rates are lower over Christmas.
“I expect, though I hesitate to make any sort of predictions, we will see a flattening of the curve in the next two weeks. We will see at least a slowing of growth.
“The critical question is what happens in January and the extent we want to make public health measures more uniform across the country if the new variant is everywhere.”
