England’s chief medical officer defends decisions taken during pandemic

Coronavirus – Mon Apr 27, 2020

England’s chief medical officer has launched a staunch defence of his actions over the Covid-19 pandemic, saying mass testing had to be abandoned due to capacity issues and lockdown came at about the right time.

In a heated exchange with former health secretary and chairman of the Health and Social Care Committee Jeremy Hunt, Professor Chris Whitty told British MPs that widespread community testing earlier on in the pandemic required “an infrastructure we did not have”.