Scientists surveyed over impact of Covid lockdowns
The British Government did not pay sufficient attention to the long-term collateral damage of lockdowns, a majority of British scientists surveyed believe.
A survey conducted by The Telegraph and Censuswide shows nearly 68 per cent of academics believe more consideration should have been given to the fallout caused by shutting down the country.
The views are in contrast to the public discourse at the height of the pandemic, when only a few dissenting scientific voices spoke out over lockdowns.
While just over half of scientists thought lockdowns were always proportionate and always justified, onethird disagreed.
Experts said the results show there was far less scientific consensus than the public was led to believe.
Last month, the World Bank warned that lockdown disruption to education would scar multiple generations of children who suffered developmental and learning delays.
NHS waiting lists soared to a record 7.8 million last September and there have been tens of thousands of extra non-Covid deaths since the pandemic, particularly among heart and cancer patients.
A study from University College London in February estimated 12,000 years of life had been lost in Britain because of delays in diagnosing skin cancer during Covid lockdowns.
Gordon Wishart, chief medical officer at Check4Cancer, and visiting professor of cancer surgery at Anglia Ruskin University, warned in 2020 and 2021 delaying cancer diagnosis and treatment would lead to deaths, but said his fears were ignored.
“I have real concerns that we would not do anything different if we have another pandemic, as the Covid Inquiry did not seem that interested in identifying what went wrong with our approach, and how we would change it next time.”
The Telegraph survey, taken between December and February by 198 scientists from universities across Britain, also showed that 70 per cent believed government decisions were not transparent or well communicated.
The survey also showed that scientists are split over whether Covid-19 leaked from a laboratory, with the majority thinking that China has not been open and transparent about the origins of the disease.