The delayed enforcement of coronavirus lockdown measures has led to a higher death toll, an expert has said, adding that the threat to care homes was not given enough attention.
Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman said the Government followed public opinion rather than shaping it in the early days of the outbreak, before announcing the lockdown restrictions on March 23.
Sir Lawrence, a leading expert in strategic studies and professor at King's College London, said the Government had achieved its objective of not having the NHS overwhelmed, but the death toll was high. The Government's official figure now sits at 32,065.
In an article for Survival, the journal of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, he wrote in his assessment of the UK’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak in March: “With Government following rather than leading public opinion, a graduated approach was abandoned.
He said: "It is now assumed that there will be an official inquiry into the British government’s response to the crisis, investigating whether delays in imposing stringent measures led to an avoidably high number of deaths, and where responsibility lies for shortfalls in the provision of tests and personal protective equipment."
Department of Health figures show that a total of 32,065 people have died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 5pm on Sunday, up by 210 from 31,855 the day before.
However, the number of deaths involving Covid-19 that have been registered across the UK currently stands at 33,021.
This includes 29,710 deaths that occurred in England and Wales up to April 24 – and which had been registered up to May – according to the Office for National Statistics.
The figures from NHS England show that a further 3,964 hospital patients who had tested positive for Covid-19 died between April 25 and May 10 – which, together with the total figure of 33,021 registered deaths, suggests the overall death toll for the UK is just under 37,000.
