The COVID Diaries – 29 24th April
A Cabinet Office briefing leaked to The Guardian newspaper has revealed that the government was warned last year that the country needed a robust plan to deal with a pandemic virus and its potentially catastrophic social and economic consequences.
The document told government ministers that even a mild pandemic could result in thousands of deaths and set out what needed to be done to reduce the impact, as well as the potential damage of not taking action.
The leak of the document coincides with the UK’s hospital death toll from coronavirus heading close to 20,000. Less than a month ago, the medical director at NHS England, Prof Stephen Powis, said the country would “have done very well” to stay below this total. The figure excludes deaths in the community.