No10 silent over claim PM ‘wanted to ignore’ pandemic

DOWNING Street has not denied reports that Boris Johnson thought the best approach in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic was to “ignore it”.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman pointed to the Government’s approach of doing “everything we can” to reduce transmission of the virus, protect the NHS and save lives.

The BBC reported that there was a lack of concern in No 10 in the early stages of the pandemic. The Prime Minister was heard to say “the best thing would be to ignore it” and he repeatedly warned that an over-reaction could do more harm than good, according to the broadcaster’s sources.

Asked about the alleged comment, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “I would point back to what the Prime Minister said and set out at the time. It has always been our focus to reduce the cases of transmission, to protect the NHS and to ultimately protect lives. That’s what we did when we first locked down the country last year and that’s what we have sought to do throughout the pandemic.”

When it was pointed out he was not denying the claim, the spokesman said: “I’m pointing out that throughout the pandemic what we have done is do what we think was the best course of action in terms of protecting lives and in terms of protecting the NHS. That has been our focus throughout the pandemic.”

Asked whether the PM had said those words privately, the spokesman added: “I’m pointing to what we did and the fact that the Prime Minister, based on the scientific evidence and medical evidence, made the decisions that we did in order to protect the NHS and save lives.”

The UK suffered its worst day for Covid-19 deaths during the second wave of the virus, new analysis confirms. A total of 1,463 deaths occurred on January 19 where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate. This is four more than the 1,459 deaths that occurred on April 8, 2020, which was previously the UK’s “deadliest day”.

The total for January 19 has only now overtaken April 8, due to a small number of deaths recently registered. Figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) provide the fullest picture so far of how the pandemic has unfolded. They show 147,681 deaths have now occurred in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.

The number of deaths taking place has slowed, with the cumulative total taking five days to rise from 130,000 to 135,000, then a further eight days to reach 140,000 and another ten days to reach 145,000. About nine in ten registered coronavirus deaths have Covid-19 listed as the underlying cause.

Care home resident deaths involving coronavirus in England and Wales have fallen by more than three-quarters in a month. There were 2,175 care home resident deaths where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate registered in the week to February 5, the ONS said. The latest weekly figures show 467 resident deaths (in all settings) in the week to March 5 – down 78.5% in four weeks.