Stefan Simanowitz Profile picture
"Action, like a sacrament, is the visible form of an invisible spirit" (bell hooks) || journalist || campaigner || @amnesty || Easily distracte

Sep 18, 2020, 8 tweets

KB: How close are we to a national lockdown?

MH: #COVID19 is accelerating

KB: Yes, but how close are we to national lockdown?

MH: I want to avoid a lockdown

KB: Yes, but how close are we to national lockdown?

MH: Lockdown is the last line of defence

When, in June, @KayBurley asked @MattHancock why the contact tracing app won’t be operational before the easing of lockdown, he didn’t seem too concerned.

In fact, he could hardly stop laughing

At the time, tens of thousands of people had died. #COVID19

When @MattHancock says he realised in Feb COVID was “the single biggest issue that's about to hit us” @KayBurley is incredulous

He knew & didn’t DO anything!

“Did you tell the Prime Minister?” she asks

“Yes,” he replies. “I told him right at the start.”

The PM was told about #COVID19 at the beginning of January, presumably after he got back from Mustique

On 30/1, @WHO declared #COVID a global emergency

On 14/1 @BorisJohnson told BBC: “We’re working up a plan so people can bung a bob for a Big Ben bong.”

"We need to restore the clapper to bong Big Ben on Brexit night."

In this interview, @BorisJohnson’s main concern is raising £500,000 for a clapper

The first time the PM mentions #COVID19 publicly was in his now infamous #GreenwichSpeech on 3 February.

If you’ve not seen the #GreenwichSpeech, it’s not your fault

It had almost zero media coverage

In April, me & @peterjukes got a tip off about it

It not only helps explain the #HerdImmunityScandal, but offers clues as to the govt’s wider #COVID strategy.
https://t.co/BCjHbCHFJr

On 6 May at #PMQs @BorisJohnson said there would go from:

2,000 tests/day in March;

to 120,000 tests/day at end of April;

to 200,000 tests/day by end of May;

“...& then go even higher”

That was more than 4 months ago
(via @Under_Covid)
#TestingScandal

The PM’s promised increase didn’t happen

Compare the increase in #COVID19 testing capacity (grey line) between:

* 1 April - 1 June (2 months): massive increase

* 1 June - mid-September (3.5 months): small increase then levelling off

NB: This is capacity NOT #COVID tests done

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