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Conservative MP Philip Dunne told talkRADIO that people will be willing to accept a degree of risk in order to see family members but that chance encounters with strangers will remain a worry for many people during the pandemic. Mr Dunne stated that face masks will provide some reassurance but that a vaccine is needed to provide long-term reassurance to the public.    

Mr Dunne said: “We all accept that there is risk, when it comes to meeting people certainly in the family context one has got some understanding of the sort of isolation people have been living through for the last few weeks.

“It is the chance encounter with a stranger in the street that I think people will continue to be nervous about.

“I think the introduction of face masks provides some degree of reassurance to people.

“The real reassurance will come when we have got a vaccine but before that a significant reduction in the infection rate.”

Last week Matt Hancock revealed that a manufacturer has already committed to producing Oxford University’s coronavirus vaccine.

The Health Secretary told the coronavirus daily press briefing that AstraZeneca has struck a deal for the manufacture of the Oxford vaccine.

Mr Hancock added that the Imperial vaccine is now in the first phase of human trails. 

Mr Hancock said: “In the long run, the best way to defeat this virus is through the discovery of a vaccine.

“Since the start, we have been supporting the most promising projects.

“As of this week, the Imperial vaccine is now in the first phase of human clinical trials.

“AstraZeneca has struck a deal for the manufacture of the Oxford vaccine.

“They are starting manufacturing now even ahead of approval so we can build up a stockpile and be ready should it be clinically approved.

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“We are starting the manufacture of the Oxford vaccine now.”

At the time of writing, Britain has the fifth-highest number of COVID-19 cases in the world. 

The UK has more than 305,000 cases in total and the current official death toll stands at over 42,000. 

Worldwide there have been more than 9.1 million COVID-19 cases.

The death toll has reached more than 475,000.

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