It comes as Sir John, a regius professor of medicine at the University of Oxford, said Britain is 'over the worst' of the pandemic and 'should be fine' once winter has passed.

His comments followed the Royal Society of Medicine webinar last night, where Dame Sarah said viruses tend to become 'less virulent' — meaning they have less severe outcomes, such as hospitalisation and death — as they spread more easily.

She said 'there is no reason to think we will have a more virulent version' of Covid and there will be growing immunity in the population, as there is with all other seasonal coronaviruses.