Professor Chris Whitty

Care homes catastrophe: Britain’s coronavirus death toll could be DOUBLE official tally

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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

Who is telling the truth? Extraordinary row breaks out between Boris Johnson’s scientific advisers

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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

Chief medical officer urges relatives to stay away from care homes with one in ten already infected

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‘Don’t go to care homes’: Chief medical officer urges relatives to stay away as he says one in ten facilities have been infected with coronavirus Professor Chris Whitty said care homes were ‘some of the biggest challenges’  Care homes have reported a spate of deaths from coronavirus in the last week  But owners have said … Read more

Coronavirus UK: Chris Whitty admits mass testing came too late

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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

Shutting schools has little impact on stopping spread of coronavirus, claim UCL academics

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Shutting schools has little impact on stopping the spread of coronavirus, a new study has claimed. The team at University College London (UCL) said data on the benefit of school closures during the ongoing pandemic is limited but the impact is likely to be small. However, Professor Neil Ferguson, whose scientific modelling has informed government … Read more

Impact of continued lockdown on poor people’s health to be weighed when it comes to exit strategy

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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

Impact of continued lockdown on poor people’s health to be weighed when it comes to exit strategy

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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

Coronavirus UK: Antibody tests might NOT be key to end lockdown

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England’s chief medical officer played down the prospects of a swift lifting of the coronavirus lockdown today. Professor Chris Whitty said that discussions about moving on to the next stage of the response to the pandemic would be premature until the nation has passed the peak number of deaths. He downplayed reports that this figure … Read more

Do nothing approach to tackle coronavirus epidemic could have led to almost 500,000 deaths

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Almost 500,000 people could have died from coronavirus if the UK had adopted a ‘do-nothing’ approach associated with earlier ‘herd immunity’ plans, a study has suggested. As the virus began to take a stranglehold on the UK last month, the Government mooted the concept of beating back the disease by allowing 80 per cent of … Read more