Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government scientific advisor has warned that pubs could be forced to close again, as a trade off to allow schools to reopen, from September.
The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) member Professor Graham Medley warned that the recent rise in coronavirus infections are now primarily in younger age groups.
This could “spill over” into other parts of the population, therefore closing “other networks” could be required to reopen schools from next month.
Professor Medley told the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, “I think we’re in a situation whereby most people think that opening schools is a priority for the health and wellbeing of children and that when we do that we are going to reconnect lots of households.
“And so actually, closing some of the other networks, some of the other activities may well be required to enable us to open schools.
“It might come down to a question of which do you trade off against each other and then that’s a matter of prioritising, do we think pubs are more important than schools?”
On Friday England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty said that England is “near the limits” of reopening society.
He warned, “If we wish to do more things in the future we may have to do less of some other things.
“The idea that we can open up everything, and keep the virus under control, is clearly wrong.”
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