As the former Sage adviser leaves Wellcome to join WHO, he talks about exhausted health workers, the UK’s sluggish response to Covid and the danger of conspiracy theories

Masks are a rarity now on streets and trains. We don’t leave empty seats in theatres or limit how many people browse in our shops. It seems like it’s all over – but Prof Sir Jeremy Farrar, director of Wellcome, once a key member of the government’s scientific advisory body Sage and an enormously influential figure in global health, says the Covid pandemic could still have unpleasant surprises in store.

Farrar is not a doom-monger. But from where he is sitting, with long experience of epidemics from flu to Sars to Ebola, we are still in a risky place. We need to be ready for what this – or quite possibly another – bug could do to us.

Continue reading…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You May Also Like

Duolingo says its English language tests for visas are cheap and secure

The founder of the language app is in talks with the UK…

Tory MP warns Boris Johnson a replacement for ex-ethics adviser Lord Geidt is needed – UK politics live

John Penrose, who recently quit as PM’s anti-corruption champion, says it is…

The once-great US men’s track team failed to win a solo gold in Tokyo. Why?

The US men failed to win an individual gold for the first…

Russia-Ukraine war latest: Russian attack kills nine civilians in Kharkiv; Zelenskiy accuses Moscow of ‘genocide’ in Donbas – live

Ukraine fears the north-eastern city of Kharkiv is still on Russia’s agenda;…