The UK's Health Security Agency chief has urged poorly employees to stay away from the workplace instead of ‘grinning and bearing illness’ - and said “we should be worried about flu".
However, Dr Jenny Harries said that another lockdown this winter looks “highly unlikely” - but cannot be completely ruled out.
It comes as a nasty cold, dubbed the 'worst lurgy ever', spreads across the UK.
Asked if the public could have some confidence there would not be a lockdown this winter, the UK Health Security Agency chief executive told Times Radio: “You can never say 100%.
“But I would say that while the Delta variant dominates we know that our vaccines are effective, and I think it’s highly unlikely.
“You’ll be aware there is a plan B from Government which is held there in check so that all planning is in place.
“But if we look internationally across the world actually wherever we’re seeing new variants at the moment, Delta is predominating. We’re still keeping an eye on a couple of them.
“So I think it’s looking positive, but I would never say 100%.”
Workers should avoid the traditional approach of ‘grinning and bearing illness’ and instead stay away from the office if they are feeling unwell this winter, Dr Jenny Harries said.
She told Times Radio: “I think, particularly as we approach the flu season for example, whereas people traditionally in the UK have sort of grin and borne their infectious disease and then gone into work and spread it around, I’m hoping that, as we go through winter, people when they are symptomatic will generally recognise that and stay away and be supported to do so.”
On the general point of people no longer working from home, she said there would likely be a rise in cases if everyone returned to work immediately.
She said: “If everybody returned immediately to work without due consideration, then I think it’s likely we would see more cases over a short period of time depending on whether they were wearing face coverings, whether they were taking appropriate precautions.
“But, of course most people are protected now, so even people who are doubly vaccinated are becoming infected, they are not becoming seriously ill and they are not dying in the way that we saw previously.”
Asked how worried the public should be about flu this winter, she told Sky’s Trevor Phillips On Sunday: “We should be worried about flu each winter. I think people still don’t realise it can be a fatal disease. Recent studies suggest that about 25% of us don’t actually understand that. On average, over the last five years, about 11,000 people have died with flu-related conditions.
“But I think the important thing about this winter is, we are likely to see flu, for the first time in any real numbers, co-circulating with Covid.
“So the risks of catching both together still remain. And if you do that, then early evidence suggests that you are twice as likely to die from having two together, than just having Covid alone.
“So I think it’s an uncertain winter ahead – that’s not a prediction it’s an uncertain feature – but we do know that flu cases have been lower in the previous year so immunity and the strain types are a little more uncertain.”
It follows warnings from England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer Professor Van-Tam that flu was a "significant public health concern" this winter.
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