Professor Chris Whitty ‘not confident’ that Tier 3 measures will be enough

England’s chief medical officer has warned that even the most stringent new local lockdown restrictions might not be enough to slow down rising Covid cases.

Professor Chris Whitty said: "I am not confident - and nor is anybody confident - that the Tier 3 proposals for the highest rates, if we did the absolute base case and nothing more, would be enough to get on top of it.

"And that is why there's a lot of flexibility in the Tier 3 level for local authorities... to actually go up that range, so that they can do significantly more than the absolute base.

"Because the base will not be sufficient, I think that's very clearly the professional view.

"But there are quite a lot more additional things that can be done within that, with local guidance."