Perhaps quote of day from Whitty: "if people don't take mitigation seriously, if people hear a distorted version of what's been said that says this is all fine now, it's gone away and start to behave that they would have before the virus then we will get an uptick, for sure."

As to whether or not Whitty agrees with the guidance which has been issued he says he believes "it's a reasonable balance of risk" but it's not for advisers not to sign things off "it's to give advice"

Also important from Whitty: "I'd be surprised and delighted if we're not in this current situation through the winter and into next spring...I'd expect there to be considerable Covid circulating in that time and think it's unrealistic for science to come to rescue in that time"

Whitty: "...for medium and long term, I'm optimistic but for the short to medium term until this time next year then we should be planning for the long haul on Covid into 2021."

Given Whitty’s comments, germane question must be why the briefings are coming to an end. Tone from PM feels that he very much wants today to be something of a full stop, with the scientists emphasising this is, at most, a comma.