SAGE expert says ‘I won’t hug my grandparents at Christmas’ despite PM signalling return to normal by November

A SAGE committee expert has said he will not hug his grandparents this Christmas and that a return to normality is a “long way off”.

It comes despite the Prime Minister saying yesterday he hoped the country would see a “significant return to normality” by November.

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The number of new coronavirus cases being diagnosed in the UK each day continues to fall, and restrictions on movement are gradually now being eased.

But the city of Leicester was forced back into lockdown after a local spike, and experts continue to warn that the country could see a second wave if measures are lifted too quickly.

Professor John Edmund, a member of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, was this morning interviewed on programme.

Asked when he thought the country might be able to return to normal, he said: “Unfortunately I think it is quite a long way away.

“If what you mean by normality is what we used to do until February and the middle of March this year – go to work normally, travel on the buses and trains, go on holiday without restrictions, meet friends, shake hands, hug each other and so on – that’s a long way off, unfortunately.

“We won’t be able to do that until we are immune to the virus, which means until we have a vaccine that is proven safe and effective.

“If we return to those sort of normal behaviours the virus will come back very fast.”

Asked whether he would be hugging his grandmother, he said that he wouldn’t.

GOVERNMENT ACTING ‘ON A WING AND A PRAYER’

In a televised address yesterday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson laid out the next phase of the government’s coronavirus strategy.

“It is my strong and sincere hope that we will be able to review the outstanding restrictions and allow a more significant return to normality from November, at the earliest, possibly in time for Christmas,” he said.

He added that the public should “hope for the best” while the government was “planning for the worst”.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps this morning also encouraged people to begin using public transport again and said the government hoped to give people a “sense of direction”.

Responding to the Prime Minister’s speech, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer accused the government of acting “on a wing and a prayer”.

“We all want society to reopen, we all want our economy to start growing again,” he said.

“But the key now is confidence. Do the public have confidence in the measures the government’s put in place?

“Do businesses have confidence in the advice that’s being given? And can we have confidence that the government’s scientific advisors support these measures?

“This can’t be done on a wing and a prayer.”

The UK’s chief scientific advisor Sir Patrick Vallance later also warned the UK could in fact spend Christmas in a second lockdown.

“As you release measures it is inevitable as you get more contacts that you will see more cases,” he said.

“Come winter, the challenges will be very much greater and of course there is a risk that this could need national measures.”