UK PM Boris Johnson Too Slow in Locking Down Coronavirus-Hit Britain Says Ex-Science Chief

BRITAIN’S former government scientific adviser has said that Boris Johnson’s administration failure to act sooner over the coronavirus, has caused a higher death toll across the UK.

Professor Sir David King advised the government between 2000 and 2007, and speaking to LBC Radio in London, he said that action should have been taken as soon as the outbreak happened in China.

He was also critical that mass crowd events like racing’s Cheltenham Festival were allowed to carry on.

“Why we didn’t respond so much sooner once this epidemic broke out in China, I simply don’t know,” Sir David said.

“And I say this because, in 2006, we published a report on actions needed to deal with a pandemic and in that report, we showed that if an outbreak occurred of any new virus of this kind, anywhere in the world, within three months, due to air travel, it would be everywhere in the world and that, of course, is what has happened – and it seems that we were unprepared and we didn’t take action.”

Sir David also had short shrift over the racing at Cheltenham continuing in March, despite the virus rapidly spreading across the UK.

“Imagine, March 16, having a horse race go on with a massive crowd at Cheltenham,” he said.

“We didn’t manage this until too late and every day’s delay has resulted in further deaths in the United Kingdom.”

King said government cuts to public services over the past decade had also exacerbated the slow response to the crisis.