he UK should expect a “difficult few weeks” as Covid case numbers increase following the return to school, says Professor Neil Ferguson.
The school bubble system was ditched in July in favour of a system where just the pupil who has Covid isolates. Pupils are still tested regularly but they will no longer be required to self-isolate if classmates test positive.
Prof Ferguson, of Imperial College, and a key driver of the Government’s decision to first lockdown in March 2020, said there may need to be a “course correction” if case numbers continue to rise.
“I think we will see a difficult few weeks. We’re expecting numbers to tick up.
“We need to monitor what’s happening in the next few weeks, and if we start seeing something closer to the worst-case scenarios – case numbers at 100,000 or more – there may well need to be some course correction at that point,” Prof Ferguson said at an event organised by the Institute for Government.
