Prof Neil Ferguson was one of the first scientists to raise the alarm in Britain that unless the government radically changed policy, it was heading for a disaster that the NHS could not cope with
When the UK government announced a full national lockdown a year ago, it pointed to a devastating report based on the modelling data of one of Britain’s most influential epidemiologists: Prof Neil Ferguson. It showed that unless the government changed course it was heading for a disaster that could result in the deaths of 250,000 people and the NHS being overwhelmed within weeks.
Weeks turned into months but, eventually, Britain was able to reopen last summer. Yet cases of Covid-19 surged again. Ferguson tells Anushka Asthana that once again there were calls from the scientists for a short “circuit breaker” lockdown that could stem the flow of new cases. In this instance, the government decided not to take the advice, but was forced to implement a second lockdown lasting throughout November. Then when new variants began running rampant, officials moved in January to institute a full third national lockdown that is only now starting to be relaxed.
