The government’s chief epidemic modeller says an exit plan is needed from the lockdown (Picture: Getty, AFP)

A senior science adviser to the government has said the UK should consider letting people catch coronavirus in the safest way possible.

Professor Graham Medley, who leads the government’s disease modelling team, argued Britain has ‘painted itself into a corner’ with a lockdown which could eventually lead to more harm than the disease itself.

He told The Times today: ‘We will have done three weeks of this lockdown so there’s a big decision coming up on 13 April. In broad terms are we going to continue to harm children to protect vulnerable people, or not?’

‘The measures to control [the disease] cause harm. The principal one is economic, and I don’t mean to the economy generally, I mean to the incomes of people who rely on a continuous stream of money and their children, particularly the school closure aspect .


Many countries are struggling to identify how to ease lockdowns without a renewed outbreak (Picture: GETTY IMAGES)

‘There will also be actual harms in terms of mental health, in terms of domestic violence and child abuse, and in terms of food poverty.’



Professor Medley said scientific models had found no way of easing the lockdown while controlling the virus.

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Only those who work outside could be safely allowed to return to work, he added.

Professor Medley added: ‘If we carry on with lockdown it buys us more time, we can get more thought put into it, but it doesn’t resolve anything – it’s a placeholder.’

Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance has previously suggested herd immunity could be a long-term goal (Picture: PA)

The government’s chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance, suggested in March that the public could be allowed to build up immunity enough to stop the virus spreading, while protecting the most vulnerable.

Ministers denied ‘herd immunity’ was ever the government’s goal, though only after three days.

It was argued mass immunisation would be a natural consequence of a plan to allow the outbreak’s peak to hit in summer when the NHS was more able to cope.

Boris Johnson has said plans to buy hundreds of thousands of antibody tests to detect if someone has recovered from the virus could be a ‘gamechanger’.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock defended the government against accusations of failing to build up testing capacities in time (Picture: PA)

But Professor Medley suggested antibody testing was not currently effective and has never successfully been used to manage an epidemic.

Around a million people have started receiving welfare payments and millions more have been furloughed. Some data has pointed to a recession steeper than that of the 1930s.

The prime minister, who has extended his self-isolation period due to continuing symptoms, urged the public not to be tempted into flouting lockdown rules this weekend.

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