THE man leading the fight against Covid-19 in Southend has warned “now is not the time for complacency” as Boris Johnson raised fears of a third wave of the disease.

Krishna Ramkhelawon, director of public health at Southend Council, urged people to keep vigilant because there are still too many unknowns about new variants.

He spoke as Boris Johnson warned the effects of a third wave of coronavirus will “wash up on our shores” from Europe.

The Prime Minister said yesterday the UK should be under no illusion we will feel the effects of growing cases on the continent.

Mr Ramkhelawon said: “What has been more unexpected with this pandemic is how transmissible and how impactful it has been on people.

“We did not have the medicines to stop the impact on people.”

He stressed: “It’s vital that we do not become complacent and a real concern is new variants developing.

“There’s still a lot that’s unknown about this and whether the vaccine will be effective on other variants too.

“We are seeing a risk of a third wave from Europe and we’ve got to keep sticking to the rules, rolling out the vaccine and testing.

“This will help ensure any new wave is not at the scale as it was last time. I think it’s inevitable that we see a third wave but we want to be successful in reducing the transmission.”

He underlined the importance of sticking to the rules and maintaining social distance, wearing masks and washing hands often.

He spoke as the UK marked a year since the start of the first UK lockdown, which continued until June last year.

By October, Covid rates in Essex, and across many parts of Britain, were skyrocketing.

The second national lockdown started on November 5. It lasted four weeks, but after rules were again relaxed in December.

Most of Essex entered Tier 4, the toughest restrictions, on December 19.

On January 6, the third national lockdown started.

The first stage of lifting restrictions saw schools return on March 8, with further restrictions to be relaxed in the coming weeks.

Mr Ramkhelawon said there are some things that have been done well but recognises there are lessons to be learnt.

He said: “I think what we’ve done well is engaging with the community and residents to help keep them informed.

“We ran webinars and started to do more from June.

“It’s so important we keep people updated and informed. We started doing this with residents and then progressed to schools and businesses too.

“It’s very much a question of keeping people updated and also on board about what needs to be done.”

During the last year, difficult decisions have had to be made affecting the lives and livelihoods of residents.

Two of the people making those decisions are Essex county councillor responsible for health, John Spence, and Essex’s director of public health, Mike Gogarty.

Mr Spence said: “The past year has been unprecedented and nobody could have predicted it.

“This time a year ago you’d have expected everything to be sorted by now if you believed social media.

“But we took it seriously and went through the first lockdown period where a lot was learned about how to respond.”

But both Mr Gogarty and Mr Spence agree there is a long way to go.

Mr Gogarty said: “It is important to stress this is not the end of things and people really need to continue to be as careful as possible.

“Covid isn’t going to go anywhere. As restrictions are eased, infections will rise and there is a danger of another wave.

“It is three times more infectious than flu and it will seize any opportunity we give it.”

Mr Spence added: “One of the key things I have learned over the past year is never predict with Covid. I am hopeful it is the last lockdown, but I could not be confident.”

Mr Johnson’s warning over a third wave comes after both France and Italy were forced into new restrictions amid a rise in cases.

There has also been a slow rollout of vaccines across the EU. Leaders will hold a conference on Thursday to discuss the bloc’s vaccine rollout and the fresh spike in cases in many member states.