In an interview to mark two years since the first lockdown, Professor Roger Kirby, president of the Royal Society of Medicine, said if ministers try to impose another lockdown the public would not tolerate being deprived of their liberty on such a scale again, which may spark a riot.
However, he also conceded that some additional restrictions may be needed if hospitalisations and deaths rise significantly due to the current surge, warning: ‘We are not out of the pandemic yet and must not risk becoming complacent.’
Doctors are concerned about a new wave triggered by social mixing and the rise of a more transmissible variant of Omicron called BA.2.
Case rates among the elderly are at the highest level recorded during the pandemic, with one in 29 people over 70 in England infected.
To blunt any spike, health bosses will start rolling out the spring booster vaccination campaign soon.
