The UK should have gone into lockdown earlier than 23 March 2020, leading scientists in Wales have told the UK’s Covid inquiry.
Chris Williams, consultant epidemiologist for Public Health Wales, and Michael Gravenor, a professor of biostatistics and epidemiology whose modelling work informed Welsh health policy decisions during the pandemic, suggested there was evidence in support of a mandatory lockdown by the end of February into early March.
“My view is that the UK should have locked down on 12 March or possibly even earlier, partly because of what the modelling was saying in terms of the timing of the lockdown in relation to the impact and partly because of the evidence that it would work from Wuhan and Italy,” Williams told the inquiry, which is currently focusing on the Welsh government’s response to the pandemic.
