Lockdowns could have been avoided, says Jeremy Hunt

FORMER health secretary Jeremy Hunt has said Britain could have avoided Covid lockdowns if the country had been much quicker in setting up a test-and-trace system.

Mr Hunt said wide ranging restrictions might have been rendered unnecessary if the UK had followed the Korean and Taiwanese example of tough test and trace regimes to monitor infected individuals.

He told GB News: “I actually thought we could have avoided all lockdowns if we had been much quicker and set up test-and-trace as they did in South Korea and Taiwan.

“Those two places actually didn’t have any lockdowns at all in 2020, so that would have been my preferred route.”

Mr Hunt suggested Prime Minister Boris Johnson had made a number of avoidable mistakes during the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said: “Would I have made some of the mistakes that Boris made? I don’t think I would have, because of my experience as health secretary. But I would have made different mistakes.”