Professor Carl Heneghan, director of evidence-based medicine at Oxford University, also argued it was time to "treat people like adults" and let them moderate their own behaviour instead of imposing strict lockdowns on them. Amid the rapid spread of the Omicron variant across the UK, he said: “This time last year, there were over 2,000 people being admitted. So we’re in a very different place with the presence of vaccines, the presence of the boosters, antivirals on board, and you have to reflect on that information. “We’re in deep, deep trouble here of potentially talking ourselves into annual winter lockdown. Because what happens is this is as good as it gets.” “People will moderate their behaviour accordingly. That’s what we need to trust people to do going forward because that’s the only sustainable policy.”

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