"There is no evidence to suggest a second wave of coronavirus," professor says

3 June 2020, 15:33

Bacteriologist tells LBC why he does not believe there will be a second peak of coronavirus.

Professor of Bacteriology Hugh Pennington, who has advised the Scottish government during the pandemic, is a "second-wave sceptic" and calls the evidence for another spike "very weak."

"I don't think there is any evidence from looking at other coronavirus like SARS and MERS - no second waves there, no second waves in China so far."

People who fear a second spike are harkening back to the Spanish flu of 1918 which saw a resurgence - the professor pointed out we are in very different circumstances and very different groups of people are being affected.

"It's history, it really is history," he said, emphasising that historians are not even positive if the first wave was the same virus as the second wave in the 20th Century.

He points out that the flu model has been too "defeatist" as it assumes the virus will pervade our society "possibly forever".

While we do have a flu vaccine which protects people some of the time, there is no evidence it will be the same for COVID-19, he reiterates.