When asked if the new lockdown in England will work, Professor Chris Whittytold the Science and Technology Committee: “If people adhere in the way that Iexpect they will, it’ll reduce R below one, in my view, in the great majorityor all of the country.
“I wouldn’t want to imply that suddenly that means thatCovid is over as a problem.
“This is a long haul.” He added: “We need to seethis through winter - this doesn’t mean we need to stay in these measuresthrough winter - but we will need to be doing things that keep the ratesdown.” When asked if the restrictions would be lifted on December 2, ProfWhitty continued: “The decision as to whether to lift restrictions on December2 is rightly a decision for ministers and Parliament.
“I think that the aim ofthis is to get the rates down far enough that it’s a realistic possibility tomove into a different state of play at that point in time.”
