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Prof Neil Ferguson's advice led to the UK government's decision to go into lockdown Image caption: Prof Neil Ferguson's advice led to the UK government's decision to go into lockdown

Prof Neil Ferguson, a former UK government adviser whose advice led to the decision to go into lockdown, has said he does not believe a second national lockdown would be necessary.

Instead, he said he would expect to see "targeted" restrictions to contain outbreaks. He also said the easing of restrictions needed to be monitored "very closely".

The UK should "be prepared to row back a bit if we start seeing increases in case numbers," he told BBC Radio 4's Political Thinking programme.

The next series of measures to ease the lockdown will take place in England on 4 July, when the two-metre (6ft) social-distancing rule will be reduced to "one metre plus".

Prof Ferguson said he "did not disagree" with the policy changes announced this week and did not expect to see "very large growth of cases across the country" as a result.

"What I do expect to see, depending on how sensible people are, how much they judge the risks themselves and reduce those risks, is clusters of cases," he said.

But he added he believed there would be "a bigger potential risk of more widespread community transmission" as the UK goes into autumn and winter.