Further lockdowns could be necessary this winter, an expert has warned, as thousands more over-18s queue outside vaccine centres.
Dr Susan Hopkins, director for Covid-19 at Public Health England, told The Andrew Marr Show: “We may have to do further lockdowns this winter, I can't predict the future – it really depends on whether the hospitals start to become overwhelmed at some point.”
However, she stressed that people wouldn’t normally be put into lockdown for severe cases of influenza – and that the country needs to move to a situation where people can “live with this”.
The scientist’s comments came as thousands more people queued up outside vaccination centres for a second consecutive day after the jab was opened up to all over-18s.
Giant jab clinics have been set up at major football stadiums across London, while smaller events have also been taking place in community venues over the weekend in a drive to vaccinate as many Londoners as possible.
More than 700,000 Covid-19 jabs were booked on the day the NHS vaccination programme was opened up to people aged 18 to 20.
People in England made 721,469 appointments through the national booking service on Friday, more than 30,000 an hour or more than eight every second.
