A return to life as normal could fuel an autumn wave of coronavirus cases but further lockdowns may not be required, a UK government scientific adviser has said. Professor John Edmunds, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), said he was “cautiously optimistic” that another lockdown would not be needed to bring cases under control again. Edmunds said there was a need to be “very cautious” about the situation at the moment because previous peaks had been countered by locking down. “We’re not doing that this time,” he told Times Radio. “But I don’t think we will need to go into a lockdown. I hope not anyway. I very much hope not. I’m cautiously optimistic about that.” Fellow SAGE member Professor Neil Ferguson, among the government’s most prominent scientific advisers on COVID-19, also predicted that it is unlikely a lockdown will be needed again to control the virus. …