Fresh row as ex-aide targets Boris
Dominic Cummings claims UK PM sought to avoid second lockdown saying only 80-year-olds were dying from Covid-19
LONDON/ADELAIDE: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had sought to avoid a second lockdown last autumn, arguing that most of the people dying were over 80, his former aide claimed on Tuesday.
Dominic Cummings, who was Johnson’s top adviser until November, made the claim in an interview with the BBC, arguing that his former boss “put his own political interests ahead of people’s lives”.
Cummings shared WhatsApp messages apparently from Johnson with the BBC, in the latest of a series of attacks on the government following his resignation.
The British PM has faced serious criticism for his handling of Covid-19, with UK death figures soaring to among the worst in Europe before the successful vaccine roll-out.
On Monday, Johnson controversially opted to go ahead with relaxation of almost all coronavirus restrictions in England despite cases growing steeply in recent weeks.
The PM allegedly wrote in autumn last year in a message shown by Cummings that most people were dying from the virus at an age above average life expectancy. “So get Covid and live longer,” Johnson allegedly wrote.
He also allegedly downplayed the impact on the state-funded National Health Service (NHS). “I no longer buy all this NHS overwhelmed stuff. Folks, I think we may need to recalibrate.”
Cummings described Johnson’s attitude at the time as, “This is terrible, but the people dying are essentially all over 80 and we can’t kill the economy just because of people dying over 80.”
The UK PM repeatedly condemned the first lockdown from March 2020 as a “disaster”, Cummings said. The former adviser also claimed that at the start of the pandemic in March 2020, he had to persuade Johnson not to continue meeting Queen Elizabeth II in person every week.
He claimed that Johnson insisted on March 18, “I’m going to go and see her”. The prime minister changed his mind after Cummings told him that risking the life of the monarch, then aged 94, was “completely insane”, the aide alleged.
Downing Street denied this took place, while Buckingham Palace declined to comment, the BBC reported.
Adelaide becomes latest Oz city to lock down
Adelaide on Tuesday became the latest in a string of Australian cities to lock down, as the largely unvaccinated nation struggles to contain a rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak.
Adelaide joined Sydney and Melbourne in locking down after five local cases were detected. The decision means more than 14 million Australians are now under orders to stay at home.
In the US, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its travel advisory on the UK to level 4 due to “very high” Covid-19 rates and advised Americans to avoid travelling there, the BBC reported.
In the US state of Indiana, a federal judge has upheld a university’s decision to require its students and employees to get vaccinated against Covid-19. The decision of the South Bend court can still be appealed in the Supreme Court.
In the case brought by eight students, the judge refused to suspend health rules imposed by Indiana University before resumption of classes between August 1 and 15. The rules require Covid-19 vaccination for the school’s 90,000 students and 40,000 employees but allow for exemptions.
South Korea’s government on Tuesday apologised for “failing to carefully take care of the health” of hundreds of sailors who contracted the disease on a navy ship taking part in an antipiracy mission off eastern Africa.
The outbreak aboard the destroyer Munmu the Great is the largest cluster South Korea’s military has seen. A total of 247 of the ship’s 301 crew have tested positive in recent days.