Government ignored key scientific advice on coronavirus pandemic

The government’s mantra throughout the Coronavirus outbreak has been that they are being ‘guided by scientific advice’.

This approach has been criticised by John Whitlock click here to read and others who feel that the government should get on and run the country rather than be influenced by experts from the health sciences.

As the death toll reaches 30,000 (55,000 is a more accurate figure according to The Times), it is worth reflecting on government’s role in a strategy that now sees the UK as being top of the COVID-19 league table in Europe.

One major reason why our country has struggled to control the virus compared to Germany is that some key expert scientific advice has been ignored.

In January a study in the medical journal Lancet raised the alarm about the COVID crisis in China but from January to March there were no checks or quarantine for arrivals to the UK.

In February, it wasn’t the scientists who advised the PM to decline the invite to join the European scheme to source PPE and turn down a conference call with EU leaders and health ministers to discuss the pandemic.

In March, whilst the WHO called for widespread testing, the UK response was to halt our testing and contact-tracing programme.

Madrid was identified as the centre of the crisis in Spain but 3,000 Madrid fans were allowed to travel to Liverpool for a football match.

I could go on.

If only the government had actually listened to and acted upon scientific advice, the large-scale loss of life that we have witnessed may then have been averted.

Still, if they claim to have been ‘guided by the science’, it will at least give them somebody else to blame.