Disruptive social restrictions could continue for another 12 months, warns UK Govt expert

But he then said: "Until we have those - the probability of having those any time in the next calendar year are incredibly small and we should be realistic about that - we're going to have to rely on other social measures, which, of course, are very socially disruptive as everyone is finding at the moment.”

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He added: “But until that point, that is what we will have to do but it will be the best combination that maximises the outlooks but it's going to take a long time and we need to be aware of that.”

Tomorrow, scientists at Oxford University will begin trialling a vaccine on people; a stage which can often take years to reach.

The plan is to test it on around 500 volunteers by mid-May and if that work proves successful, give it to thousands more volunteers.

At present, about 80 groups around the world are researching vaccines and some are now entering clinical trials.

While some experts have suggested a vaccine could be up and running later this year, most believe one is unlikely to become available before mid-2021, some 12 to 18 months after Covid-19 first emerged.

Prof Whitty went on to say he was "very hopeful that we will have vaccines which have proof of concept much earlier than a year".

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However, he noted: “But there is a long path between having a vaccine that's proof of concept and until we have either a vaccine or a drug...what we will have available to us are social measures."

The UK Government is due to review the lockdown restrictions by May 7 on advice given by its team of experts known as SAGE. By then, Britain would have been enduring restrictions for six weeks.

The expectation is that a wholesale lifting of some social measures is unlikely but, rather, “modifications” could take place. Yet there is no clarity on what these could be.

Dominic Raab, standing in for Boris Johnson as he recuperates from the effects of the virus, was asked at the No 10 briefing about reported remarks by the TSSA transport union about preparations for a possible increase in the country's railway service between May 11 and 18.

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The Foreign Secretary said he did not know where the dates had come from, stressing: “It's not something I recognise. It would be a mistake to take our eye off the ball right now. The focus is still on delivering us through the peak and we're obviously reliant on the data we get back from SAGE in a couple of weeks’ time in order to even think about the next phase.”

Prof Whitty, a member of SAGE, explained "We are going to have to do a lot of things for really quite a long period of time, the question is what is the best package and this is what we're trying to work out.

"If you release more[restrictions] on one area, you have to keep on board more of another area, so there's a proper trade-off and this is what ministers are having to consider."

In other developments -

*the Prime Minister continues to ease his way back into his working routine with a weekly audience with the Queen by telephone expected this evening. Mr Johnson is getting daily updates from No 10 about developments in the coronavirus outbreak but Downing St insisted he was still not formally doing work and any return to full duties would only happen after consultation with his doctors. His spokesman revealed he had watched today’s digital PMQs from Chequers.

*Mr Raab declined to say if there would have to be unanimity between the “four nations” of the UK before the lockdown was lifted. Plaid Cymru’s Liz Savile Roberts asked the question during PMQs to which the Foreign Secretary replied: “If she looks at the social distancing measures there has been remarkable consistency in all four nations in terms of compliance. So, I hope we can continue to work together on a collaborative basis as we look towards the second phase.”

*The NHS is getting through tens of millions of masks a week, procurement officials have said as they revealed the "staggering" amount of Personal Protective Equipment needed for frontline workers. Chris Hopson, head of NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts in England, said they were getting through around 80,000 gowns a day but had previously got through up to 150,000 when at full tilt. Downing St has pointed out that more than one billion of PPE items have now been delivered.

*British firms are set to send tens of thousands of PPE items to Europe rather than to the NHS due to a "lack of response from the Government," they claimed. Labour released a list of 36 British companies that said they had not received replies to their offers of PPE. Neil Mercer of Network Medical Products, said: “We want it to be sold and used here; the materials were sourced in the UK. But our offers have been met with generic responses from officials; no orders have been placed, so we will have to ship them abroad."

*MPs have approved electronic voting for the House of Commons although its introduction will be delayed amid concerns over how it operates. Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Commons Leader, said the Government had no plans to require remote voting next week when legislation would be debated, adding that a committee of MPs must first look at the procedure and assess whether it was "workable" or not.

“Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, said Britain's "adversaries" - including Russia – were seeking to exploit the coronavirus outbreak for their own advantage. He told a virtual meeting of the Commons Defence Committee that Moscow was continuing to mount naval exercises while pursuing a campaign of "misinformation".

*The number of companies applying to use the Government’s furlough scheme has topped 300,000, which would mean some 2.2 million workers would be covered at a cost of £2.6 billion. The Job Retention Scheme pays 80 per cent of a furloughed worker's wage up to £2,500 a month. It runs until the end of June.

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