Shelagh Fogarty 1pm - 4pm
"The Government wasted 6 weeks instead of preparing for coronavirus," Sadiq Khan told James O'Brien
14 May 2020, 14:09 | Updated: 14 May 2020, 14:16
"The Government wasted 6 weeks instead of preparing for coronavirus"
Sadiq Khan told James O'Brien that the government wasted six weeks where they could have efficiently prepared for coronavirus and simply did not.
Sadiq Khan said the UK got the virus later in the global outbreak so "we could have seen what other countries were doing that was working and...wasn't working."
"We should've planned better and made decisions better and been ahead of the curve. Rather than responding to things that are happening, we should have been planning and doing stuff in advance."
On Sunday the Prime Minister advised face coverings should be worn in public in enclosed spaces if there is an inability to social distance, such as on public transport.
"James, I said exactly the same thing six weeks ago!" the London Mayor said.
"So we've had six weeks of people for, sometimes unavoidable reasons, coming in close proximity to somebody else in a shop or in public transport where they could be asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic and they've been passing on the virus inadvertently.
"Even if we could have reduced the chance of just a small percentage of the virus being passed on, that's a large number of people who wouldn't have caught the virus...and wouldn't have lost their lives."
Read more: Sadiq Khan reveals TfL will run out of cash today without government support