Doctor Hilary Jones has raised concerns over one particular date from Boris Johnson's roadmap out of lockdown as the country looks forward to getting back to some sort of normality.
As revealed by the Prime Minister on Monday, the first step out of lockdown will see schools re-open nationwide and two people allowed to meet outside not just for exercise from March 8, before the rule of six is introduced outside from March 29 and non-essential shops and salons can welcome customers again and bars and restaurants can serve food and drink outdoors no earlier than April 12.
And the next big date for the road map - May 17 - is the earliest pubs and restaurants can welcome customers inside and international travel could resume. before 'all restrictions on social contact' end on June 21, which will see nightclubs re-open for the first time since March last year with large events set to resume.
But it's one of the earlier dates Dr Hilary said he was worried about - March 29, with him telling Lorraine Kelly: "... two people can socialise outdoors now, you can meet up with one other person and not just for exercise but you can have a sit down, a coffee, a picnic, a chat - people will be looking forward to that, so that's a nice first step.
"Three weeks after that, March 29th, rule of six, or two whole households of any number, can meet outside, but the rule of six is people from different households.
"That worries me, but that's just my private worry. With six people, one person can take any virus back,"
Explaining why the five week gaps between the major steps out of lockdown are so important, Dr Hilary added: "They will asses hospitalisations and death rates, they will asses whether there's new variants, they will assess the vaccine rollout success, they will assess all these things every step of the way.
"If it has not quite worked, they will delay the next stage, to protect everybody."
