In a 30-minute deep dive into the spread of Coronavirus in the UK, I explain to talkRADIO’s Cristo Foufas how and why the Government failed to prepare for the pandemic — and what it must do now to limit the deaths and damage.
Cut through the white noise, cut through the spin. When Acting Prime Minister Dominic Raab said last week that there are five general points before we can talk about easing restrictions, the key one is that we must have adequate testing and personal protective equipment.
If you do not have that testing, you cannot track how it might spread and resurge, and we’re back to January when we were blind as the first cases came from China into the country.
Listen from 21:54 in 0500-0530 Segment
Complementing the revelations in a lengthy Sunday Times exposé: I discuss:
*How Prime Minister Boris Johnson failed to take the crisis seriously, not even attending meetings of the Cobra emergency committee until March and declaring that the country must not give into the “fear” and “hysteria” of social distancing
*How the National Health Service, crippled by years of austerity and inattention, was further hindered by inadequate supplies and testing
*How the Government then pursued the disastrous “herd immunity” approach until mid-March, letting the virus spread through the population
*How Ministers like Health Minister Matt Hancock covered up the failures, and continue to do so
See also EA on talkRADIO: Coronavirus in the UK — A Matter of Testing and Trust
UK care home deaths may be 5 times greater than official figures show: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/18/uk-care-home-covid-19-deaths-may-be-five-times-government-estimate
“Care England, Britain’s largest representative body for care homes, told the Daily Telegraph that up to 7,500 care home residents may have died of the virus.This is significantly higher than the figure of 1,400 people estimated to have died by the government earlier this week.”
Scott, I disagree with the NHS being under-funded and under-resourced. It receives £120bn a year. That is more than the GDP of Slovakia. The problem is that there is a lot of waste, fraud and mismanagement, along with too many non-medical staff on enormous salaries.