Keeping cases as low as possible in the weeks and months ahead is “very important”, and social distancing may need to continue, a UK government adviser has told MPs.
The end of social distancing in England – originally planned for 21 June – has already been pushed back to July.
Speaking to the Commons Science and Technology Committee today, Prof Wendy Barclay – a member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag) – says: “Certainly there’s an agreement in Nervtag, from a virus evolution point of view for example, that keeping the numbers of infections as low as possible during this coming period is a very important thing to do to prevent the concept that the virus might evolve further mutation.
“What Nervtag are agreed on is that keeping numbers low is very important, and that the social distancing measures are clearly important contributors to that.”
