The current wave of coronavirus infections could see up to 200,000 new cases a day, Imperial College London has warned.
Prof Ferguson told BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show that it was “almost inevitable” that daily infection rates would hit a record 100,000 within a week, and that cases could spike at more than double that figure.
His frightening announcement comes just hours ahead of England’s “freedom day”, where all remaining coronavirus restrictions are set to be lifted on Monday.
All adults in the UK have been offered a Covid-19 vaccine ahead of the planned lifting of coronavirus restrictions on Monday, the government says.
The latest figures show that 46.2 million adults (87.8 per cent of the population) have had a first dose of a vaccine, and 35.7 million (67.8 per cent) are fully vaccinated.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the vaccination target had been met, and called it an “extraordinary achievement”.
Face Masks
Professor Neil Ferguson said that wearing a face mask can help in reducing the risk of someone passing on a Covid infection.
Speaking on BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show on Sunday morning, Prof Ferguson said that although masks were not “perfect” they still had some effect on transmission.
“They work best at preventing you infecting someone else,” he said, adding that “lots of people, including double-vaccinated people, such as the health secretary, are getting infected, are probably infectious, and if they wear a mask, even if they don’t’ know they’re infectious, that will reduce the risk, but probably only by 20 per cent or so.”
When asked if he would continue wearing a mask, as he did when he entered the BBC studio, Prof Ferguson said: “Given the circumstances, I’m going to continue my behaviour as I have been really for the last few months, at least until the autumn.”