LONDON, April 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government was embroiled in a political row after it emerged his chief advisor attended meetings of the main scientific group advising ministers on the coronavirus pandemic in Britain.
Earlier, Downing Street was forced to deny that Dominic Cummings and another advisor, Ben Warner, were members of the politically independent Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE).
However, following reports in The Guardian newspaper, the government
admitted that Cummings had sat in on group meetings, prompting the opposition Labour Party to ask for “answers” over his exact role.
The row emerged as the government’s general COVID-19 approach came under increasing scrutiny and the official death toll approached 20,000 in one of the countries worst hit by the pandemic.
In a statement, a Number 10 spokesman said Cummings and Warner have attended some SAGE meetings to understand better the scientific debates
concerning this emergency and also to understand better the limits of how
science and data can help government decisions.
The statement added that it was “factually wrong and damaging to sensible
public debate” to suggest the committee’s advice was affected by the
government.
The UK government has come under increasing pressure on a number of fronts in recent weeks, including criticism over shortages in personal protective equipment and a lack of widespread testing, particularly of frontline health and social care workers.
Questions have also been asked why it was slow in enforcing a nationwide
lockdown to enforce social distancing measures.
There are also growing demands for a government exit strategy from the
current lockdown, first imposed on March 23, extended on April 16 and due for review on May 7, as concerns grow over the huge impact the crisis is having on the economy.
Meanwhile, a new website to offer testing for up to 10 million key workers
and their families has been overwhelmed.
On Saturday, health officials announced that as many as 5,000 severely ill
coronavirus patients could be treated with plasma from people who have
recovered from the illness as part of a new approach.
The number of deaths for COVID-19 in hospital currently stands at 19,506.
In March, the UK’s chief scientific advisor, Sir Patrick Vallance, said
keeping the number of UK fatalities to less than 20,000 would be “a good
outcome”. — NNN-AGENCIES