Covid immunity from jabs is waning and there is "huge potential" the NHS will face extreme pressure this winter, a SAGE scientist has warned.
Professor Andrew Hayward said ministers should "think about" Covid curbs if the virus runs "out of control" as he cautioned of “some evidence” protection against infection is beginning to wear off.
The top scientist sounded the alarm after the UK recorded case levels exceeding 40,000 for the fifth consecutive day on Sunday.
At 45,140 new infections, the Department for Health figures marked the highest daily jump since July and case rates are now soaring above those of the UK's European neighbours and the US.
Prof Hayward told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme: “I think it’s concerning that we’ve got very high rates of infection and higher rates of hospitalisation and mortality than many of our European counterparts.
“Whenever we approach a winter period we expect respiratory virus infections to increase, so I think it’s very important that we go into that with as high a level of population immunity, especially in elderly and clinically vulnerable groups, as possible.”
He said waning immunity is “probably part of” the reason infections are currently high, but said protection against severe disease may be waning to a lesser extent.
Prof Hayward added: “We shouldn’t be complacent because there is still huge potential for the NHS to come under a lot of pressure and for there to be a lot of unnecessary deaths.
“So we need to get the vaccination rates up and we need to be prepared potentially to think about other measures if things do get out of control.”
Latest figures show the UK is recording more than five times more cases per million people than Germany, and 17 times more than Spain.
It comes after the Department of Health announced the largest daily rise in coronavirus cases since July 20 yesterday, with more than 45,000 people testing positive in 24 hours.
It has sparked calls for the government to bring in its 'Plan B' in England - bringing back compulsory mask wearing indoors, encouraging working from home and introducing controversial vaccine passports.
Research by Our World In Data found that in the seven days to Friday, the UK had a rate of 589.68 infections per million of the population.
This compares to 104.20 in Germany, 71.02 in Spain, 40.68 in Italy and just 32.91 in Spain, where stricter coronavirus measures are in place.
The UK is also recording more than three times more deaths per million people than Spain, Italy and France, researchers found.
Downing Street insisted there were no plans to reintroduce coronavirus restrictions in England despite rising cases.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “There is absolutely no plan to introduce Plan B currently.
“We retain that capability if required if we believe the NHS is coming under unsustainable pressure.
“We are monitoring cases, as you know cases have increased recently.
“However, because of the protection from vaccines, we have substantially reduced that link between cases, hospitalisations and deaths which means numbers of hospitalisations – and indeed deaths – while they have increased slightly are not rising at the same rate.”
