“Where have been the critics who may have stopped Johnson main Britain to Covid tragedy?” your article asks (27 May). I used to be one in all quite a lot of individuals who did attempt to publicise the dangers of a viral pandemic and the options. I first heard the complete state of affairs for a viral pandemic on 17 November 2008 in a presentation on analysis that was carried out within the wake of the Sars-1 outbreak (2002-04).
After years of instructing concerning the administration of pandemics and inspiring emergency planners to deal with the issue, on 14 March 2017 I gave a chat to 12-year-old kids at a college in Swiss Cottage, north London. They took the entire drawback of pandemics much more severely than did the federal government, which was then busy ignoring the outcomes of the 2016 Cygnus pandemic train, whose report was produced at the moment and saved secret till the Guardian printed it years later. Indeed, one of many kids requested me how we might cope if the virus mutated earlier than an appropriate vaccine could possibly be created. Very percipient.
The UK nationwide danger register has been issued by the federal government in varied editions at irregular intervals since 2008. Every version has put pandemics on the high of the record of dangers that the nation faces. How will the federal government justify having ignored its own warnings?
David E Alexander
Professor of danger and catastrophe discount, University College London
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