THE coronavirus infection rate will remain high for "weeks and weeks" if people flout the social distancing rules this weekend, a top scientist advising the UK Government has warned.
Professor Neil Ferguson, from Imperial College London, said that while the epidemic was expected to plateau in the next week to 10 days, people's behaviour was critical to determining what happens next.
His warning followed similar pleas by Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock for people to stick with the social distancing measures and resist the temptation to enjoy the sunshine forecast for swathes of the UK on Saturday and Sunday.
Asked what would happen if people flout the social distancing rules this weekend, Professor Ferguson told BBC Radio 4: "That moves us to a slightly more pessimistic scenario.
"We still think things will plateau but we'll be at quite high levels of infection for weeks and weeks rather than seeing quite a rapid decline as the type seen in China."
He said he was "hopeful" that some of the intense social distancing measures could be substituted with rapid access to testing and contact tracing in a few weeks' time - once case numbers are lower.
"We want to move to a situation where at least by the end of May that we're able to substitute some less intensive measures, more based on technology and testing, for the complete lockdown we have now," he explained.
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