‘No doubt’ there will be further Covid waves in autumn, says UK’s chief statistician
Professor Sir Ian Diamond, head of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), has said there will “no doubt” be another wave of coronavirus infections in the autumn.
Speaking on Sunday, Sir Ian acknowledged the impact of the “wonderful” vaccine rollout though cautioned “we need to recognise that this is a virus that isn’t going to go away.”
"And I have no doubt that in the autumn there will be a further wave of infections," he told The Andrew Marr Show on BBC One.
The UK’s national statistician pointed toward regional variations in terms of how many people have antibodies. “There is a lot of regional variation, so we find 30 per cent of London have antibodies whereas only 16 per cent in the South West, so we need to recognise that as well,” he told the programme.
This comes after Professor Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, said he would “strongly advise” against any rapid easing of coronavirus restrictions.
Source: The Independent, 14 March 2021