Sunny outlook for Christmas as Covid cases in long decline

THE “flattening” of Covid case numbers is creating a “sunnier outlook” for Christmas, a modelling expert has said.

Cases are on their longest unbroken decline since May, according to government data, despite a daily rise on Thursday.

Prof Mike Tildesley, of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (Spi-m), which advises the Government, said: “I’m certainly more optimistic than I was this time last year in that the vaccines are clearly here to help us.

“We always need to be careful because we know that Covid has thrown so many curve balls over the past 18 months that if we start to see another variant of concern emerge, where the vaccines are less effective or it’s much more transmissible again, then things could go in the other direction.”

While the University of Warwick professor said the tightening of some measures could not be ruled out, we were “a long way away from talking about the idea of a lockdown”.

“Hopefully, more and more people keep going out to get the booster vaccines. If we get high uptake in younger people with vaccines, we should hopefully have a much sunnier outlook as we move towards Christmas,” he added.

But Dr Tildesley’s comments came as patients’ groups called for immediate activation of Plan B and the Army to be sent in to help ambulance services, to relieve NHS pressures. While Covid cases, deaths and hospitalisations are falling, latest NHS data show the worst Accident & Emergency performance on record, and heart attack victims waiting almost an hour for ambulances.