With the coronavirus social restrictions in the UK starting to feel like some kind of weird normality, it appears it won't be coming to an end anytime soon, as the government's chief medical officer admits we could be living with social restrictions until the end of the year.
Professor Chris Whitty claimed that it was "wholly unrealistic" for Britons to expect life to suddenly turn back to normal. He continued to say that the only way out of this trouble in the long-run is through a "highly effective vaccine" or drugs to treat the disease — although he has continued to warn that the likelihood of the UK having access to this before the end of 2020 is "incredibly small".
Speaking at the government's daily coronavirus briefing, Whitty said that "this disease is not going to be eradicated, it is not going to disappear. We have to accept that we are working with a disease that we are going to be with, globally, for the foreseeable future. In the long-run, the exit from this is going to be one of two things, ideally: a vaccine, and there are a variety of ways they can be deployed, or highly effective drugs so that people stop dying of this disease even if they catch it, or which can prevent this disease in vulnerable people."
The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in the UK stand at 18,100.
