Search icon

Coronavirus

23rd Mar 2021

Chris Whitty warns UK will face ‘definite’ third wave of coronavirus ahead of today’s briefing

Claudia McInerney

Whitty made the comments at a conference

England’s Chief Medical Officer, Chris Whitty, said the UK will “definitely” experience a third wave of coronavirus infections.

Speaking at this year’s Public Health Conference, as reported by Sky News, Prof Chris Whitty said: “The path from here on in does look better than the last year.”

Prof Chris Whitty warned that “there are going to be lots of bumps and twists on the road from here on in”.

The CMO continued, saying “there will definitely be another surge at some point whether it’s before winter or next winter, we don’t know”.

The warning comes after the one year anniversary of the first national lockdown on March 23rd 2020.

On Twitter, the Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the anniversary of the lockdown is an “opportunity to reflect on the past year”, referring to 2020 as “one of the most difficult in our country’s history”.

The CMO spoke of the difficulties the country is set to face as it emerges from the latest national lockdown.

As reported by Sky News, the CMO said at the conference: “Variants are going to cause problems, there will be stock-outs of vaccines and no doubt there will be multiple problems at a national level but also at a local level – school outbreaks, prison outbreaks, all those things that people are dealing with on a day-to-day basis.”

He said that there has been an increase in the levels of loneliness, especially in the older generation, and domestic abuse. The CMO also acknowledged that some have not been negatively affected by the lockdowns.

The CMO Chris Whitty and the Government’s Chief Scientific Advisor Patrick Vallance will join the Prime Minister in a Downing Street press conference at 5pm.