Professor Peter Openshaw, professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College London has described the rule of six lat as somewhat irrational.
Speaking on Sky news this morning, he aid the rule “does seem somewhat irrational in some of the detail”.
He added:
“I think people have been complaining widely about the fact that you can carry on doing things like exercising in groups and doing sports and getting together for special events, but yet you can’t have both a grandmother and a grandfather come to visit your home if you’re a family-of-five.”
Professor Openshaw said though that he welcomed the simplicity of the guidance and an alternative would be a return to a “hard lockdown”.
If people do not follow the new rules, he said, a “trickle” of cases could quickly turn into a “cascade”.
On the same programme The Justice Secretary Robert Buckland has reiterated the Government line that a national lockdown remains a “nuclear option” this morning.
“I think here in autumn 2020, knowing much more as we do now about the nature of Covid, but still without a vaccine, we have to take a range of measures which, of course, include enhanced testing, localised measures and indeed the rule of six coming in tomorrow.
“I think the British public now know by taking a combination of different measures we can get through this period.”
Asked whether the Government could introduce curfews, Mr Buckland added that there is an issue with young people forgetting to adhere to the rules. But added that it would be “idle of me to speculate as to what measures we might have to bring in as we approach the winter.”
