Covid not over, hard months to come in winter: UK deputy chief medical officer

"Too many people believe that this pandemic is now over. I personally feel there are some hard months to come in the winter and it is not over," Van-Tam told BBC TV.

The COVID-19 pandemic is not over in Britain and there are hard months to come as winter nears, England's deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam said on Wednesday.

Many scientists are pressing the British government to re-impose social restrictions and speed up booster vaccinations as coronavirus infection rates, already Europe's highest, rise once more. (AP)

"Too many people believe that this pandemic is now over. I personally feel there are some hard months to come in the winter and it is not over," Van-Tam told BBC TV.

"The caution that people take or don't take in terms of interacting with each other: That is going to be a big determinant in what happens between now and the darkest months of the winter."