Adviser says UK needs to accelerate Covid-19 response

Government criticised for failing to respond to coronavirus in the way it did to Brexit

Britain's health secretary Matt Hancock has come under pressure after promising 100,000 coronavirus tests a day by the end of the month. AFP

Britain needs to accelerate its response to coronavirus and put in place a “small army” of health workers to test the population to successfully end its lockdown, a senior government adviser said on Thursday.

The government is set to continue with the strict measures that have shuttered businesses and restricted people to their homes as the death toll from hospital deaths climbed to nearly 13,000 on Wednesday.

Professor Neil Ferguson of Imperial College, London, said that the government had failed to put in place systems to tackle the pandemic as it has done with planning for Brexit.

There’s a lot of discussion I would like to see action accelerated,” he told the BBC. “Decisions need to be accelerated and real progress made.”

The Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, denied that the government was failing to prepare adequately. “Scientists can say what they like,” he told the broadcaster. “But we will do what’s best by understanding this virus.”

The UK government has been criticised for failures in supplying protective equipment for health staff, putting in place a large-scale testing programme and for inadequate action to protect staff and residents in care homes.

Mr Hancock said some 15 per cent of care homes have had two or more cases of Covid-19 despite claims from the sector that the level of sickness was much higher.

It follows government health guidance, withdrawn in mid-March, which suggested that it was “very unlikely that people receiving care in a care home or the community will become infected”.

Professor Ferguson said he believed that daily infections peaked two weeks ago but social distancing would remain a reality until a vaccine was available.

“We need to move to system where people can be tested and know if they are affected,” he said.  He said phone apps would be helpful but would include a “small army of people” tracing and tracking those who have come into contact with those who are confirmed with Covid-19.