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LONDON, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Britain is likely to need to
reintroduce some national coronavirus lockdown measures sooner
rather than later, a former senior government health advisor
said on Saturday.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday that he did not
want another national lockdown but that new restrictions may be
needed because the country was facing an "inevitable" second
wave of COVID-19.
"I think some additional measures are likely to be needed
sooner rather than later," Neil Ferguson, a professor of
epidemiology at London's Imperial College, told the BBC.
Ministers were on Friday reported to be considering a second
national lockdown after new COVID-19 cases almost doubled to
6,000 per day, hospital admissions rose and infection rates
soared across parts of northern England and London.
"Right now we're at about the levels of infection we were
seeing in this country in late February, and if we leave it
another two to four weeks we'll be back at levels we were seeing
more back in mid March, and that's going to - or could - cause
deaths," Ferguson said.
Ferguson served on the government's main scientific advisory
board until May, when he stepped down after breaking lockdown
rules himself.
He said future lockdown restrictions did not need to be as
strict as those introduced in March to be effective in slowing
the renewed spread of the disease.
(Reporting by David Milliken; Editing by David Clarke)