England’s former chief medical officer has claimed the country was ill-prepared for “the wrong pandemic” because officials felt a virus would “never travel this far”.
Dame Sally Davies said she questioned whether the country should rehearse for a coronavirus outbreak in 2015, but was told it would not “reach us properly” by Public Health England officials.
She told The Daily Telegraph officials focused on the threat of pandemic influenza, and the country was therefore prepared for the “wrong pandemic”.
– Almost 20 per cent of Liverpool residents tested in pilot
Almost a fifth of Liverpool residents have taken part in a mass coronavirus testing pilot in its first week, according to the city’s mayor.
Joe Anderson said 90,000 people had been tested since last Friday, when the city began offering tests to everyone regardless of whether they have symptoms.
The figure is 18 per cent of the city’s population of just under half a million.
Mr Anderson told BBC Breakfast 430 people had tested positive, with only about 200 of them showing symptoms before they had a test.
