Coronavirus symptoms: Professor says range should be expanded

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Speaking on BBC Newsnight, UCL Clinical Research Director Prof Christina Pagel said new variants emerging could endanger Britain’s immunisation drive. She suggested keeping infections low would help prevent coronavirus mutations infecting people who have been vaccinated.

Prof Pagel said: “We have to think about what is acceptable this year.

“And to me, it is totally unacceptable to have a winter like we just had.

“And to me, that means we have to just prevent new variants arising to put our entire vaccination programme at risk and potentially set it back to the beginning again.

“So that, to me, is what this year should be about.”

Viewers took to social media to throw their support behind Prof Pagel’s message as they claimed the vaccine was the only solution to the health crisis.

One Twitter user said: “Absolutely right to communicate this fact.

“Too many people, thanks to Govt messaging, believe the vaccine is the one way out.

“This is multi-factoral. We do need to focus on where this virus is hitting most, improve air filtration in public spaces, test more etc.”

Another person added: “Said this all along. The elderly aren’t the key spreaders and can in theory more easily social distance.

“We should have prioritised vaccinating primary health care workers first, those with underlying medical conditions next plus other essential workers who are exposed socially.”

Prof Pagel’s remarks come after a Whitehall source warned it was believed social distancing “will need to be in place for a long time to come”.

They said: “It has repercussions for the scale of any reopening.

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“Restaurants, pubs and offices will all need to be COVID-secure.”

SAGE member Professor John Edmunds told ITV’s Robert Peston that guidance about the use of face masks could stay “probably forever” if COVID-19 becomes endemic in the UK.

The expert also suggested most guidelines, such as the Rule of Six and social distancing, could stay in place until the end of the year.

He added: “I think we’re going to have to be under some restrictions for some time. Again, it depends on the rapidity of the vaccine rollout.”

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