<span style="color: #222222;">As fresh Covid wave is sweeping across parts of Western Europe, prompting the introduction of fresh restrictions and lockdowns, it has triggered fears the UK could also follow suit. But according to epidemiologists, Britain may escape the worst of what is being seen on the continent.<br />''<br />''Neil Ferguson, an epidemiologist at Imperial College in London and top scientific adviser has claimed that UK has reached the herd immunity threshold at which most of the population is protected against Covid-19.<br />''<br />''Ferguson said Britain will mostly avoid the sharp increase in cases seen on the continent in recent weeks, and suggested further restrictions like lockdowns were unnecessary. But critics say there are too many issues to be considered like virus variants and waning vaccine immunity.<br />''<br />''While England fully unlocked in mid-July, parts of Europe did not do this until the autumn, and in many places kept tougher restrictions in place even as they did.<br />''<br />''The UK was hit by the more infectious Alpha variant and then Delta sooner, placing it in a position to push ahead with unlocking before others.<br />''<br />''A combination of good vaccine rollout, among the older and more vulnerable groups, and natural immunity from infection have ensured that there is likely to be a much smaller pool of vulnerable people for the virus to infect, according to researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.</span><br />