Restrictions imposed to stem the spread of the coronavirus in the U.K. may last up to six months, a senior British health official said Sunday.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jenny Harries said that while indications the disease’s infection curve is flattening could lead to the relaxing of the lockdown put in place last week, social distancing guidelines are likely to stay in place, CNN reported.

The government will review the effects of the lockdown in two to three weeks in, Harries said, but officials would likely require “two or three months to see whether we have really squashed it, but about three to six months ideally.”

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Neil Ferguson, a professor of mathematical biology at Imperial College London whose models have been a key influence on the British government, said Monday that there are hopeful signs suggesting some early success as a result of the lockdown. He told BBC Radio that the rate of increase in hospital admissions has slowed, which he said is “the result of the actions people have taken and governments have taken.”

Ferguson cautioned that admissions have yet to plateau and that daily death tolls do not yet reflect the apparent infection slowdown, and “we’re critically missing direct data in the number of infections,” according to CNN. The U.K. has tested slightly under 130,000 people for the virus thus far.

“We think maybe a third, maybe even 40 percent of people don’t get any symptoms,” he added. An antibody test that can detect whether someone has previously had the virus is “in the final stages of validation right now” and will likely be ready in “days rather than weeks,” Ferguson said, saying its availability would be a “gamechanger.”

“If we are successful we will have squashed the top of that curve, which is brilliant, but we must not then suddenly revert to our normal way of living,” Harries said Sunday. “That would be quite dangerous. If we stop then all of our efforts would be wasted and we could potentially see a second peak.”

The U.K., after initially implementing some of the least stringent measures against the virus, last week imposed a lockdown banning nearly all social and public gatherings and shuttered pubs, businesses and restaurants.

 

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