Professor Chris Whitty has warned the coronavirus pandemic is highly likely to go on into next year.
England’s chief medical officer told Tuesday's Downing Street press conference we should be 'planning for this for what I consider to be the long haul into 2021'.
Prof Whitty was speaking after Boris Johnson annnounced that from July 4 the 2m social distancing rule would be reduced to '1m plus', allowing pubs, restuarants, hairdressers and other businesses to reopen
But Prof Whitty predicted that the country could have to cope with Covid-19 into 2021.
However he added he has 'absolute confidence in the capacity of science' to overcome the virus.
He said: "I would be surprised and delighted if we weren’t in this current situation through the winter and into next spring.
"I think then let’s regroup and work out where we are.
"I expect there to be a significant amount of coronavirus circulating at least into that time and I think it is going to be quite optimistic that for science to come fully to the rescue over that kind of timeframe.
"But I have an absolute confidence in the capacity of science to overcome infectious diseases – it has done that repeatedly and it will do that for this virus, whether that is by drugs, vaccines or indeed other things that may come into play.
"For medium to long term, I’m optimistic. But for the short to medium term, until this time next year, certainly I think we should be planning for this for what I consider to be the long haul into 2021."
