Disease X concept explained by WHO doctor in 2018

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Disease X is a term given by the World Health Organisation and scientists to a hypothetical unknown virus which could cause a future pandemic. In January, almost 10,000 pubs, clubs and other licensed premises closed permanently during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic. Now, a scientist fears a future pandemic could ‘kill off’ the British pub for good.

Professor Lidia Morawska, of Queensland University of Technology, called on Boris Johnson to make new laws to keep public spaces safe.

She shared “many, many scientists” have spent the last year frustrated with Governments over the danger of airborne viruses, and recommended increased ventilation in indoor spaces.

She said: “Covid is not the first pandemic in human history and therefore expecting it would be the last would be a naivety.

“If you invest in better ventilation now you would save billions in NHS funds…

“If Brits tell the Government we need better ventilation to be protected the Government will do it; if people don’t care then they won’t.”

Speaking to the Daily Star, Prof Morawska said Government’s must learn from the Covid pandemic ahead of another virus.

She told the outlet: “Lockdown was the hardest lesson we could imagine and it will be a lesson that will be forgotten very, very quickly as soon as the world goes back to normality, so now is the time to pay attention.

“The pubs were closed, everything was closed.

“If we knew what we were doing the lockdowns possibly wouldn’t have been as hard as they were and life would have been easier.

“Now is the time to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

In the last year, there was a net reduction of 5,975 licensed premises across Britain, according to a report from CGA and AlixPartners.

Almost 10,000 sites closed permanently during the Covid pandemic, with a 175 percent rise in net closures compared to 2019.

The authors warned 2021 was tipped to deliver further closures because of the impact of a lost Christmas season and renewed lockdowns, declaring “survival remains the name of the game”.

Industry body UKHospitality also estimated that 640,000 jobs were lost across the sector during the year despite Government support.

Mr Johnson announced yesterday the UK would roll out “surge vaccinations” to those over 50 years old and the clinically vulnerable amid fears the Indian variant of Covid could spread across the country.

For those in the groups, the gap between a first and second dose of Covid vaccine will be cut from 12 to eight weeks, and the army will be deployed to Bolton and Blackburn with Darwen, where the Indian variant is surging, to help with vaccinations.

The Prime Minister said: “I do not believe on present evidence that we need to delay our roadmap, and we will proceed with our plan to move to step 3 in England from Monday.

“But I have to level with you that this could be a serious disruption to our progress and could make it more difficult to move to step 4 in June, and I must again stress we will do whatever it takes to keep the public safe.”

Yesterday, 637,325 doses of coronavirus vaccine were administered, with 209,284 being first doses and 428,041 being second doses.

So far, the UK has rolled out 36,115,955 first doses and 19,319,010 second doses of Covid jabs.

Yesterday also saw further 2,193 cases and 17 deaths within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test.

In total, 4,446,824 cases and 127,668 deaths have been recorded in the UK.

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