Future lockdowns ‘can’t be ruled out’

FUTURE lockdowns due to the spread of coronavirus cannot be ruled out, Wales’ top doctor has warned.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Frank Atherton (pictured) said he hoped lockdowns were a thing of the past but added that “we never know what’s round the corner”.

He said he believed the Welsh population would be willing to make “sacrifices” for another Covid lockdown if needed and said the possibility of future measures would need to remain “open”.

Almost all of Wales’ Covid regulations have now been scrapped, with only rules requiring people to wear masks in health and social care remaining.

However, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that Wales has the highest rate of Covid of any UK nation, with one in 13 still estimated to have the virus in the week ending April 9.

Speaking to the BBC Wales’ Walescast, Dr Atherton said he anticipated current vaccines could be “reengineered” to counter any new variants.

He said that he was confident that if another lockdown was needed, “people do behave well in Wales”.

Asked if he thought that coronavirus lockdowns were now a thing of the past, he said: “You can never guarantee anything in public health or in public life, but I would absolutely hope so.

“We do have vaccines now. I would anticipate that if a new variant comes along, we would be able to reengineer those vaccines to develop something quickly which we can then provide to the population – but we just never know what’s around the corner and so we always have to leave that open.

“If we did get to a position where significant numbers of people were really coming to serious harm I do believe that the Welsh population would be willing to make those sacrifices again.

“But I really hope we don’t get to that position. But I think, you know, people do behave well in Wales, particularly.”

Asked whether the right decision was made in closing nightclubs and curbing the number of people allowed to meet after Christmas, 2021, Dr Atherton said he would have done the same again.

“We didn’t really understand the Omicron variant and what the impact would be. We knew crowded environments would create superspreading events and we had always had a slightly more cautious approach in Wales than in the other nations.

“So knowing what I know now, there may have been a different decision, but at the time, given what we knew, I think it was the right thing to do.”