Covid lockdown cannot be eased while NHS looks like ‘war zone’, warns chief scientific adviser

Parts of the NHS are such “a war zone” that the UK cannot afford to relax its lockdown, the government’s’ chief scientific adviser has warned. Despite the vaccination of more than 4 million people against coronavirus, Sir Patrick Vallance warned that the country remains in “a difficult, dangerous situation”. Vaccines alone are not yet doing enough “heavy lifting” to allow lockdown restrictions to be eased, and when relaxation does come it will be slow and gradual, he said.