Thread by @brexit_sham

SAGE member Prof John Edmunds speaks out.

THREAD 1/7:

'It's risky... there's not a lot of room for maneuver.. small changes can put the R number above 1. More importantly we still have a lot of cases, 8000 new infections everyday in England alone.."

2) Prof Edmunds:

'Combination of (loosening) different measures has the potential to allow the virus back, to start spreading widely.

Track & trace launched yesterday, we can't be sure it's working yet we're going ahead, that is rather dangerous.'

3) Prof Edmunds:

'Govt has to balance the advice of epidemiologists with that of economic advisers and other things.'

'They have clearly made the decision that around about 8000 new infections a day is a tolerable incidence.'

4) Prof Edmunds:

'Even without a second peak, if we keep the incidence at this level, just holding it, that will still result in large numbers of infections.'

"People will die, it's inevitable."

5) Prof Edmunds:

'People should be given simple and clear advice.'

"Using your instincts," I don't even know what that means.'

6) Prof Edmunds:

"We were doing it and it wasn't working"

'Track and trace only really works when you can track every single trace, isolate every contact.... this is another concern... this is much more difficult to do with large numbers of cases'

7/7) Prof Edmunds:

'The govt are pretending that they're not making a decision, that in fact it's us who are making the decision.'

'That's not really the case, they have to make the decision and clearly they have.'