An expert immunologist has warned that people in the UK must start wearing face masks to help fight against rising cases of Covid-19 and avoid a future lockdown.
The warning comes as Covid-19 infections in the UK doubled by almost 800,000 in a single week last week , with some parts of the country nearing record levels of cases. The director-general of the World Health Organisation recently urged Brits to re-introduce restrictions to combat the rising numbers, including seeing the return of face masks.
And now Professor Denis Kinane, a world-leading immunologist and founding scientist of Cignpost Diagnostics, has joined such calls. Professor Kinane told The Mirror that people should consider wearing masks again if they want to avoid further restrictions being brought back.
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"No one wants to return to full lockdowns, so taking reasonable precautions and being socially responsible is vital,” he said. "This includes using face masks, especially in enclosed and crowded spaces, and where people mix and vocally interact."
Prof Kinane also warned that the virus will continue to evolve and develop in ways that “make it invisible to our immune system” - meaning that even those who are vaccinated or have contracted Covid in the past still risk catching the virus in the future. "We have no indications yet that a step change in disease severity is on the way - but we do know that vaccine immunity begins to wane at three months and in most cases is markedly reduced or non-existent at five months,” he said.
The North East has one of the highest estimated rates of Covid cases in the country, along with London and the South West. Northumberland County Council’s deputy director of public health shared a concerning update on Friday that around one in 15 patients in Northumberland is currently being admitted to hospital with Covid per day.
Gill O’Neill explained that the increase in cases was likely due to the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron variants, with the ONS predicting that one in 25 people in England is currently infected with the virus. O’Neill added that the number of patients needing ventilation beds due to the virus fortunately remains low.
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