‘Large’ virus wave in autumn still possible in UK

Professor Neil Ferguson, infectious disease modeller and epidemiologist from Imperial College London, said current case rates are “sobering” heading into September when mixing will increase as schools return.

However, he added it is “unlikely” that any surge in hospital admissions will lead to levels of deaths seen earlier this year thanks to the vaccination programme.

He said a surge in cases will not be stopped through lockdowns, but instead population immunity.

His comments came after rules were eased so fully-vaccinated adults will no longer have to isolate if they come into contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid-19.

Professor Ferguson told BBC Radio 4’s ‘Today’ programme that case numbers have “plateaued” at around 30,000 per day, adding: “That’s a slightly sobering situation to be in coming into September.

“Our contact rates are about half of normal levels, and in school holidays children don’t have that many contacts.

“And we’ll be reopening schools, people will be going back to offices in September.

“So we still have the potential of quite a large wave of infection in September, October.”

As of 9am on Sunday, there had been a further 26,750 lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases in the UK, the government said.

In Northern Ireland, three further deaths of patients who had tested positive for Covid-19 have been reported.

The Department of Health said there had also been 1,306 new confirmed cases of the virus yesterday.