Merry May on the way for family and friends
PEOPLE could finally be allowed to meet family and friends indoors from May as Britain starts to get back to normality, says a Government adviser.
Professor Neil Ferguson is sure brighter days are coming as the UK’s daily infection and death toll continues to fall.
The expert, who is on the advisory body Nervtag, said areas with the lowest rates of Covid could go into Tier 1-style restrictions by May.
And at the very least, he thinks the whole of England could be under Tier 2-like rules.
Prof Ferguson said: “By May time, it’s realistic to be in something akin to Tier 2.
“Maybe with areas of very low incidence, we could move to Tier 1 type measures, completely relaxing and having something to where we were in August.”
However, he cautioned the road ahead will be “bumpy” and slow and it could be next year before there are no restrictions.
He told Politico’s Westminster Insider podcast: “We’re in a better place than I might have anticipated a month ago.
Lockdown has driven down cases quite fast – in a month’s time, we might have some bandwidth to reopen schools, or at least primary schools.”
The scientist whose warnings led to the first national shutdown last March said limits could be eased every three weeks after schools reopen on March 8 and that the Government unlocked Britain too quickly last year. He said: “I’m much more comfortable with a strategy that implements one change, then watches what happens for three weeks, so we can see the effect. “Hopefully by May, we’ll be in a place much more like October.” Prof Ferguson advocates up to 90 per cent of over-50s being vaccinated before society can start to return to normal. Under lowest tier rules last year, up to six could meet indoors and outdoors, while pubs were open without punters needing to buy meals and non-essential shops could open.
While in Tier 2, mixing indoors was banned, but groups of six could meet outside.