Chris Whitty worried from the start that Covid lockdown would be awful for Britain
CHRIS Whitty worried from the start that lockdown would be awful for Britain but ministers had “no good options”, he told the Covid Inquiry.
The chief medical officer said the UK was slow to act on the “existential threat” of the first wave compared to if it had been a terror warning.
But people did not understand how quickly the virus would spread and a lockdown by law had never been considered before, he added.
The top doctor called it a “radical” idea based on China and said it was ministers’ job to suggest it rather than scientists’.
Research now shows 2020’s drastic social distancing laws did huge long-term damage to the economy, the NHS and Brits’ mental and physical health.
Sir Chris said: “I did have a stronger concern than some that the biggest impacts of everything we did – and I was confident we were going to have to do them – would be in areas of deprivation, those in difficulties and those living alone and so on.”
Ex-chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance, who gave evidence on Monday, said he had pushed for an early lockdown while a note in his diary called Sir Chris “a delayer”.
He was co-chair of expert group Sage alongside former chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, who gave evidence on Monday.
Sir Patrick said he was more keen for an early lockdown and a note from his diary described the CMO as “a delayer”.
Sir Chris said yesterday: “There were no good options.
“All the options were very bad, some were a bit worse, and some were very, very bad.
“I think it took a while for some people to internalise that this was not going to be in any way easy and it was going to be long.
“It was going to involve significant loss of life almost irrespective of whatever decision was taken.”
Sir Chris, who still serves as chief medical officer to Rishi Sunak, pulled his punches on criticising ministers.
He said his WhatsApp messages from the height of the crisis are “rather dull, compared to other people’s” and refused to comment on politicians.
Asked about former PM Boris Johnson, he said: “I think that the way that Mr Johnson took decisions was unique to him.”
Both Whitty and Vallance agreed that ministers’ promise of “following the science” dragged them down because it added responsibility and assumed experts all agreed.
Sir Chris said: “Very soon we realised it was a millstone round our necks and it didn’t help the Government either.”