Wearing face covering outside could help cut coronavirus transmission, Edinburgh University health expert Prof Devi Sridhar has said.
Appearing on ITV's Good Morning Britain on Monday morning, Prof Sridhar said with the more transmissible strain of the virus people across the UK could wear face coverings in busy areas outside.
She has previously argued they should be worn when queuing outside of shops.
It comes after the top expert warned the second national lockdown could go on for another 12 weeks.
Prof Sridhar also urged government to be more proactive, stressing that the three vaccines approved in the past month could not be considered a strategy.
She warned to cycle of lockdowns whenever the NHS came under pressure and cases surge was not a practical solution for the longer term.
But the Edinburgh-based expert, who advises the Scottish Government, said that the current lockdown would need to continue: "With the numbers we're at, there's no other choice.
"For me, it’s a three-phase strategy – first is right now, it’s crude, it’s catastrophic for the economy and for people’s mental health, but a lockdown.
"Get those numbers down, protect the NHS for the next 12 weeks."
She added: "When we get into March and hopefully numbers are low again and we get into seasonal change, get your testing and tracing and your border measures in place to really suppress.
"And then in the summer, instead of taking your foot off the gas and saying ‘let’s open up everything’, actually think ‘how do we prevent this winter from happening again?'
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"I think the larger issue here is the UK has no clear strategy beyond reactive lockdowns whenever hospitals are under pressure.
"People have been in lockdown for almost a year and I think it is unrealistic for people to continue to distance and avoid mixing for months and months when it's part of what makes us human."
