BBC: Social restrictions 'to remain for rest of year'

[Jedi]

The UK will have to live with some disruptive social measures for at least the rest of the year, the government's chief medical adviser has said.

Prof Chris Whitty said it was "wholly unrealistic" to expect life would suddenly return to normal soon.

He said "in the long run" the ideal way out would be via a "highly effective vaccine" or drugs to treat the disease.

But he warned that the chance of having those within the next calendar year was "incredibly small".

"This disease is not going to be eradicated, it is not going to disappear," he said, at the government's daily coronavirus briefing.

"So we have to accept that we are working with a disease that we are going to be with globally... for the foreseeable future."

Prof Whitty said the public should not expect the number of coronavirus-related deaths to "fall away" suddenly after the peak.

Coronavirus: Social restrictions 'to remain for rest of year'

It is "unrealistic" to expect normal life to return soon, says the government's chief medical adviser.

www.bbc.co.uk