Edinburgh University covid expert encourages people to follow the rules warning 'the UK situation with this new variant is not good'

Chair of global public health at the University of  Edinburgh, Professor Devi Sridhar, has said ‘the UK situation with this new variant is not good'

Her message comes after she said yesterday on Sky News’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme that Scotland had imposed tough measures despite having a lower infection rate than England, Wales and Northern Ireland, but that it is “how we will reopen out economy.”

She took to Twitter last night saying: “From everything I can gather, the UK situation with this new variant is not good.

“Please avoid seeing other households indoors, wear face coverings, avoid crowded places and be extra cautious for the coming days.

"Ignore those who say it’s not a big deal & play it down.”

Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, warned that tough new covid controls could be in place for months as he admitted a mutant new strain of the virus was running "out of control".

He said the country was facing an "enormous challenge" after scientists warned the new VUI 202012/01 variant could be up to 70 percent more transmissible than the original virus.

Yesterday, Professor Sridhar said: "Scotland was already running a lower infection rate but to go into quite a harsh lockdown over the holiday period, to extend the school holidays, to really try to get those numbers low, I think, I would hope the rest of the UK would follow that model, which is we have got to really crunch this.

"We have got to eliminate as much as possible to the lowest level of this virus because that is how we will reopen our economy."

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