Former Chief Scientist: Government have lost public trust due to poor Covid response

18 October 2020, 11:49 | Updated: 18 October 2020, 13:01

Professor Sir David King reflects on pandemic response

The chair of Independent SAGE believes the UK's poor response to the pandemic has led to the public losing trust in the Government.

Professor Sir David King argued that "if we're going to get economic recovery," amid the Covid-19 crisis, a circuit breaker lockdown may be necessary to reduce the prevalence of the virus.

The former Chief Scientific Adviser and chair of the Independent SAGE Group added that unless the test trace isolate system is revolutionised, a circuit breaker would be in vain.

Andrew Castle reminded Professor King that questions have arisen over the sharing of NHS App data with the police to enforce self-isolation rules.

"If they are relying entirely on the app," Professor King said, "I think this can only mean people won't sign up to the app."

Read More: Long arm of the law: Covid app users to be tracked by police

Following the uncertainty around the tier system and the Government's general handling of the pandemic, Andrew wondered if the Government "lost the trust of the people in this country."

"Of course I think they have," Professor King confirmed.

"Britain has come out of this, per head of population, worst of all countries in the world."

To combat "we need a public health scaffolding"

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