Professor Chris Whitty has offered a chink of light out of the lockdown after revealing coronavirus infection rates have been wrestled down. England’s chief medical officer said the reproduction number – or R0 – has been brought below 1, marking a critical achievement in the UK’s war on Covid-19. It means coronavirus sufferers are on … Read more
Matt Hancock’s 100,000 daily coronavirus tests target was NOT recommended by government’s SAGE panel of experts, reveals Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty Matt Hancock set target of 100,000 daily tests by end of month at start of April Professor Chris Whitty said government’s advisers had not agreed to target He said SAGE backed increasing … Read more
Disruptive social distancing measures will have to remain in place for the rest of this year, the country’s Chief Medical Officer has warned. Professor Chris Whitty said the measures cannot be lifted until either a vaccine for Covid-19 or ‘highly effective’ drugs to treat the virus become available. He told the daily Downing Street press … Read more
Ministers could be given the green light to start planning an exit from the lockdown within ten days, the Chief Medical Officer suggested last night. Chris Whitty said Government experts hoped to have enough evidence about the transmission of the coronavirus by that point to ‘judge how we can go into the next phase’. The … Read more
Julie Ding (right) fears she will not be able to be at her dying mother’s bedside after she was banned from visiting her nursing home. Pictured as a child with mother Roberta and late sister Susan The boss of Britain’s largest care home operator today suggested two thirds of all homes across Britain have recorded … Read more
The scale of the coronavirus catastrophe unfolding in Britain’s care homes was dramatically laid bare last night. The Chief Medical Officer revealed that almost 100 more homes had reported outbreaks in the past 24 hours. He said more than 13 per cent had now been hit nationally by the deadly disease, the equivalent of a … Read more
Coronavirus outbreaks have been recorded in 92 care homes in the last 24 hours alone, the government revealed today as authorities were accused of ‘airbrushing out’ the deaths of hundreds of elderly victims. Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty said that almost one in seven (13.5 per cent) of the UK’s 11,300 care homes has … Read more
A furious row broke out among Government scientists tonight over whether they raised the alarm early enough over just how deadly coronavirus could be. A devastating Reuters investigation published today suggested that the scientific committees that advised Boris Johnson didn’t study, until mid-March, the option of a stringent lockdown. However, the chief scientific adviser Sir … Read more
Britain should have acted more quickly and followed the example of Germany to introduce mass coronavirus testing, England’s Chief Medical Officer admitted today. Professor Chris Whitty spoke as figures released today show that Berlin has managed to keep its death toll below that of the UK despite having around double the confirmed cases. Today was … Read more
Impact of continued lockdown on poor people’s health will be balanced against the risks from allowing people out when it comes to finalising an exit strategy, Chris Whitty says Prof. Whitty said government had to consider long-term health impacts on poor Downing Street urges focus on flattening curve before looking at next phase But Prof. … Read more