- Boris Johnson said the UK should only “ignore” coronavirus last year, reports the BBC.
- The UK became one of the worst affected countries during the pandemic.
- Johnson’s government allegedly pursued a ‘herd immunity’ strategy.
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Boris Johnson suggested last year that the UK should just “ignore” the coronavirus and that it would disappear shortly before it became one of the worst-hit countries in the world, reports the BBC.
The British prime minister, who allegedly told colleagues in recent weeks that he regretted not responding quickly enough to the coronavirus pandemic, made the remarks to colleagues on January 31, the same day that the first cases of coronavirus in the United Kingdom has been reported.
According to the BBC’s political editor, Laura Kuenssberg, Johnson was heard saying, “The best thing is to ignore it,” claiming that an overreaction to the virus could do more harm than good.
“The general view was that it was just hysteria. It was just like a flu,” a source told the BBC about the view of coronavirus in Downing Street.
Johnson’s government has privately considered pursuing a “herd immunity” strategy, and assistants are even discussing encouraging so-called “chickenpox parties” to increase the spread of the virus.
“There has even been talk of ‘chicken pox parties’, where healthy people can be encouraged to spread the disease,” the BBC reported.
The prime minister later decided to ignore the orders of tribute poets ahead of the first major coronavirus letter meeting on March 3 to tell members of the public to stop shaking hands, the BBC reported.
Instead, the prime minister announced at the press conference that he had shaken everyone’s hands in a hospital where patients infected with COVID-19 are being treated.
“I was in a hospital the other night where I think there were some coronavirus patients and I shook everyone’s hand. You’ll be glad to know, and I keep shaking my hand,” he said. said.
It was not until March 23 that Johnson instituted a full national exclusion, prohibiting the public from leaving their homes for non-essential purposes.
Johnson has been repeatedly criticized for failing to impose a closure earlier, despite the fact that countries, including Italy – which has experienced more advanced coronavirus outbreaks – have begun canceling mass rallies and leaving schools weeks earlier than the UK close.
Britain now has the highest death rate from coronavirus in Europe. Johnson reportedly told close allies that he would have acted ‘harder, earlier and faster’, saying it was a mistake not to apply the first closure earlier.
Professor Neil Ferguson, one of the government’s leading advisers on coronavirus, said in June last year that the government could have saved 20,000 lives if it had closed earlier.
“If we had made a closure a week earlier, we would have reduced the death toll by at least half,” Ferguson told lawmakers last year.
“The measures, given what we knew then about the virus, were justifiable. If we had introduced it earlier, we would have seen far fewer deaths.”
Johnson’s spokesman did not want to deny details of the BBC report.
“During the pandemic, what we do is the best way to protect lives,” they said at a regular press conference.