'Covid situation in UK is bleaker than first lockdown'

The coronavirus situation in the UK is, in some ways, bleaker than it was in March before the first lockdown, epidemiologist Prof Neil Ferguson has said.

Previous control measures that were put in place to contain the spread of the virus, may not work with the new variant of the virus which is between 50 and 70% more transmissible, he told BBC Hardtalk.

“The one silver lining of course is that we are rolling out vaccine now in the UK and the faster we can do that, the faster we can protect people and reduce the toll of the disease we are seeing currently,” Prof Ferguson said.