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Sir Patrick said that though there was encouraging evidence from Britain’s vaccine rollout, it could not be “off to the races”, as the Prime Minister outlines his blueprint to ease restrictions in England that have been in place for the past two months. 

He said: “We are in a not very good position, which is getting better.

“The message that comes out of all of the modelling is get (infection) numbers down before you start releasing, go slowly, (and) go in blocks that you can measure the effect of after four or five weeks.”

Sir Patrick also warned that even achieving good national coverage with highly effective Covid vaccines, a large part of the country’s population would remain unprotected, which is central to the cautious approach to easing lockdown measures.

The Government’s team of scientific advisers have warned that coming out of lockdown too quickly by the end of April will lead to a new and significant wave of Covid infections.

They are therefore recommending a staggered approach to this.

A summary of modelling advice published on Monday by the Government Office for Science said: “It would take a minimum of three weeks after lifting one set of restrictions to determine whether it is safe to take the next step.”

The latest data from Scotland and Public Health England has indicated that the rapid rollout of coronavirus vaccines across the UK is having the desired effect in cutting down severe disease and deaths.

But Sir Patrick has warned the country against becoming too over-optimistic on this.

He said: “The right information is not that vaccines are 100% effective and it’s all off to the races. It’s absolutely not that.

“There is still a risk. We’ve got high numbers, we need to go cautiously. We need to unlock and measure.”

This is a breaking story. More to follow…

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