The national lockdown needs to be toughened further to have a similar impact on case numbers as the March shutdown, scientists have said. A more infectious variant, coupled with the usual winter pressures, requires stricter measures than the ones announced by Boris Johnson for England this month, the experts warned. Similar lockdown measures are in place across Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Activity Professor Robert West, a participant in the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Behaviours (SPI-B), said the current restrictions are “still allowing a lot of activity which is spreading the virus”. The professor of health psychology at University College London said that he and people he…