Professor Chris Whitty: "Third wave of Covid is inevitable later this year"

Professor Chris Whitty has warned a third wave of coronavirus is inevitable as he defended Boris Johnson's ultra-cautious roadmap out of lockdown.  

England's Chief Medical Officer argued 'all the modelling' suggests Covid infections will spike at some point after restrictions are eased, despite uptake of the vaccines being high. 

Whitty maintained that 'slower was safer' when it came to easing the curbs, telling MPs he would 'strongly advise' they stick to the cautious plan.

Boris Johnson has released a 'four stage roadmap' to exit the Covid lockdown.

The government will conduct four reviews during the period of lifting restrictions, including on 'Covid status certification' (mandatory vaccine passports), pilots of large events, international travel - which will still be banned until at least 17 May - and the withdrawal of antiviral rules such as social distancing and the wearing of masks.

However, government scientists have stressed they reserved the right to pause the next step in any of the four stages at any point.

In response to calls for lockdown to be loosened sooner, Whitty warned: 'If you open up too fast, a lot more people die - a lot more people die... I think it's very easy to forget quite how quickly things can turn bad if you don't keep a very, very close eye on it.'

Professor Whitty said another surge of the virus was inevitable at some point either in the summer, autumn or winter.

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