Boris Johnson boasted about shaking hands with “everybody” he met at a hospital on the very day his own government’s scientific advice recommended against it.
Documents released on Tuesday by a Whitehall scientific advisory group reveal experts advised against hand shakes on March 3.
That was the same day the Prime Minister left his officials squirming when he told a Downing Street press conference : “I was at a hospital the other night where I think a few there were actually coronavirus patients.
“And I shook hands with everybody, you’ll be pleased to know, and I continue to shake hands.”
A newly-published document by the Independent Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Behaviours (SPI-B) stated: “There was agreement that Government should advise against greetings such as shaking hands and hugging, given existing evidence about the importance of hand hygiene.
“Promoting a replacement greeting or encouraging others to politely decline a proffered hand-shake may have benefit.”
But Johnson went on to shake hands live on television with This Morning hosts Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby two days after the advice was given.
The PM was pictured shaking hands with boxer Anthony Joshua at Westminster Abbey another four days later.
Downing Street was left covering the Prime Minister’s tracks by suggesting Johnson would not have seen the advice at the time.
The PM’s official spokesman said: “The Prime Minister wouldn’t have seen that advice, no. I think that is also a reference to a visit the PM had made to a hospital quite a few days before...
“The PM was very clear at the time that he was taking a number of precautionary steps, including frequently washing his hands, and once the social distancing advice changed the Prime Minister’s approach changed.”
