Lockdown should continue for the next 12 weeks, a public health expert has said.
Prof Devi Sridhar, chair of public health at Edinburgh University, told Times Radio that, although lockdowns are “crude” and “catastrophic" for the economy and mental health, one is needed given the prevalence of Covid-19 across the UK.
But, Prof Sridhar said, a post-lockdown strategy must be put in place to suppress the virus going into the summer.
She added: "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?'
"How do we actually protect that low prevalence, get emergency teams in place in case there are flare ups… go in, have a quick, sharp one-week lockdown and get your testing and tracing to clear the virus."
Prof Sridhar said the four nations will see cases rise again in the summer months if test and trace systems, mass testing and support packages for people self-isolating are not put in place.
She said: "We are not at the mercy of this virus where whatever it does we have to react.
"We can dictate how this evolves but we need a bit more agency in being more proactive and ahead of it instead of always behind it."
