Boris Johnson was briefed by the architect behind Sweden’s anti-lockdown strategy before he announced a raft of new restrictions to curb the spread of Covid-19, it was claimed today.
Both the Prime Minister and Chancellor Rishi Sunak allegedly heard from Professor Anders Tegnell, after they sought advice from academics outside the Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE).
Professor Carl Heneghan, who has supported the Government’s new restrictions, and Professor Sunetra Gupta, both from Oxford University, are also understood to have given advice.
Mr Johnson’s new restrictions — which include pubs shutting at 10pm, office staff working from home where possible and retail staff wearing face masks — have come in for a pounding from some sections of the scientific community for ‘not going far enough’.
Professor John Edmunds, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, accused the Government yesterday of ‘failing to learn the lessons from March’ and said they would let infections ‘double and double and double again’ before taking the right steps.
But others have been supportive of the approach — which could help to avoid a full lockdown. Professor John Edmunds, a member of SAGE, claimed it shows the Government is ‘starting to understand that we are trying to control the spread of the infection as opposed to suppress it’.
Sweden has recently begun considering a brief ‘circuit-breaker’ lockdown to stem a surge in coronavirus in Stockholm, the capital. But the country’s current infection rate stands far below the UK’s, at 28 per 100,000 compared to Britain’s 69 per 100,000.
Experts say the low levels could be because Sweden has already achieved herd immunity, where 60 to 70 per cent of people have protection from the virus due to previous exposure, stopping it from spreading.
The architect of Sweden’s anti-lockdown strategy Anders Tegnell reportedly briefed the Prime Minister and his Chancellor Rishi Sunak
Boris Johnson and his Chancellor Rishi Sunak reportedly received contributions from Anders Tegnell in their briefings
The decision to speak to epidemiologist Mr Tegnell has sparked claims the Government has lost faith in Professor Chris Whitty. The Health Secretary said this is not correct
The briefing from Sweden’s coronavirus controller, reported by The Spectator, comes as the Government battles a wave of new infections in the UK, and discussed what further measures to take.
The magazine did not report what was discussed. MailOnline has approached Downing Street for a comment on the allegation.
It is also claimed that it was only Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak present, suggesting Matt Hancock – the Health Secretary – was not privy to the conversation.
The Prime Minister steered clear of imposing a restriction on people visiting other’s households in England — despite Nicola Sturgeon’s decision to impose the measure.
But it may still be brought in over the coming weeks.
Professor Chris Whitty, England’s Chief Medical Officer, reportedly supported the imposition of the restriction for the whole of the UK, but his advice was re-buffed by Mr Johnson.
Asked on the Today programme this morning whether this showed the Government had lost faith in Professor Whitty, the Health Secretary denied this was the case.
‘No, on the contrary,’ said Mr Hancock.
‘There are reasonable disagreements between scientists and the role of Chris Whitty, as Chief Medical Officer, is to try to synthesise all of that scientific advice and present what he thinks is the best possible scientific analysis.
‘And then we take decisions based on that advice. And of course listening to voices right across the board, it’s only natural that we should.’
Reports yesterday said Sweden may now be considering a ‘chain-breaker’ lockdown to halt a spike in cases in Stockholm, the capital.
Epidemiologist Mr Tegnell has expanded on the proposals after signalling the shift on Tuesday.
‘We are thinking of fairly short restrictions, to break the spread of infection requires perhaps two to three weeks at most,’ Mr Tegnell told the Dagens Nyheter newspaper.
‘We are still developing the concept, so to say, but something like that.
‘The restrictions could be extremely local. It could be about a single workplace or city district: wherever you see a spread and think that there are restrictions that might stop it.’
Health chiefs in Sweden say not having a lockdown has worked for them, allowing people to keep their freedoms.
They have claimed to have reached herd immunity, which is when a disease runs out of room and is no longer able to spread because enough of the population have been exposed to it.
Experts say between 60 and 70 per cent of communities need to get infected, or be vaccinated against a disease, for the tactic to work.
But in Britain, where a lockdown was imposed, Government advisers say herd immunity has not been achieved with only a maximum of 8 per cent of the country having a natural defence to the virus.
The Scandinavian nation’s rate of infection currently stands at around 28 cases per 100,000 people, far below the 69 currently reported in the UK.
It remains far below the UK’s level, where 6,178 new cases were recorded yesterday, the highest daily increase ever recorded.
However, Stockholm has suffered a slight spike in cases. The Local reports that the city’s test positivity rate — the amount of swabs that come back positive — has jumped from 1.3 per cent to 2.2 per cent. The national average is around 1.5 per cent.
Sweden’s coronavirus cases have remained stubbornly low in recent months despite surges elsewhere in Europe
Sweden’s coronavirus deaths have also remained low, after rising quickly during the pandemic
The UK Government was reportedly considering a ‘circuit-breaker’ lockdown last week, but these plans have reportedly been dropped in the face of exponentially rising case numbers.
Professor Edmunds, who sits on SAGE, accused the Government of failing to heed the warnings from March yesterday.
Speaking in a personal capacity, he said the authorities will let cases of coronavirus ‘double and double and double again’ before taking the right steps, but by then it will be ‘too late’.
‘And then we’ll have the worst of both worlds, because then to slow the epidemic and bring it back down again, all the way down to somewhere close to where it is now or where it was in the summer, will mean putting the brakes on the epidemic for a very long time, very hard,’ he said.
‘(This) is what we had to do in March because we didn’t react quickly enough in March, and so I think that we haven’t learnt from our mistake back then and we’re unfortunately about to repeat it.
‘I suspect we will see very stringent measures coming in place throughout the UK at some point, but it will be too late again.’
England, Wales and Scotland today posted 27 more Covid-19 deaths while Northern Ireland recorded none in the preliminary toll
But Professor Heneghan defended their position, stating: ‘ ‘We are starting to understand that we are trying to control the spread of the infection as opposed to suppress it.
‘What we are starting to see is a move towards Sweden. So for instance, when you look at bars and restaurants, that’s the policy there – they have table service.
‘I’m hoping we now start to see a more consistent policy, one that stays in place.’ Professor Heneghan added: ‘If at every point there is an uptick in cases and we panic with more measures, we will talk ourselves back into a lockdown, which as a whole society is hugely disruptive.’