Amid falling public confidence in Boris Johnson’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, the UK’s prime minister on Monday turned to his scientists to prepare the country for “a very challenging winter” and new curbs on the way people live.
In a briefing from Number 10 Downing Street — with Mr Johnson nowhere in sight — Chris Whitty, UK chief medical adviser, and Patrick Vallance, the country’s chief scientific adviser, set out the data to support their contention that Britain would have to take coronavirus “very seriously” for the next six months.
They warned that coronavirus cases could hit almost 50,000 a day in the UK by mid-October unless the current trajectory of the disease could be shifted, with 200 people a day dying by mid-November.
Mr Johnson spent the day meeting and talking with ministers and leaders in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. He is on…