Thread by @StefSimanowitz

1/. Exactly one year ago - on 3 February 2020 - @BorisJohnson made THIS speech:

“There’s a risk new diseases such as #coronavirus could trigger a panic that goes beyond what is medically rational, to the point of doing real & unnecessary economic damage.”

2/. The PM's #GreenwichSpeech was the first time he’d mentioned #COVID19 publicly & it’s clear that the govt already had a plan

“Medically irrational responses” causing "real & unnecessary economic damage” = LOCKDOWN

The Govt’s strategy = #HERDIMMUNITY!

3/. Whilst this was the first time that the PM mentioned #COVID19 publicly, he’d known about it “right at the start” of Jan.

@MattHancock warned him & recalls his surprise that MPs weren’t aware of “the single biggest issue that's about to come & hit us”.

4/. On 10 January, @WHO had warned the UK about the risk of human-to-human transmission of #COVID19

On 14 February, govt scientist, @neil_ferguson, warned that up to 400,000 people in the UK could die👇

NERVTAG put the worst case scenario at 1.3m deaths.

5/. On #ValentinesDay 2020, the same day that Prof Ferguson had warned 400,000 Britons might die, @BorisJohnson went away to the countryside for 12 days with his pregnant girlfriend

This was two weeks after @WHO had declared #COVID19 a "public health emergency of intn’l concern”

https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1277155830467645441

6/. In 2016, the govt undertook Exercise Cygnus – a drill to examine UK readiness to respond to a pandemic

It revealed major shortfalls

Cygnus wasn’t published & it’s recommendations were not implemented

Every minister asked about it, pleads ignorance or avoids a direct answer

https://twitter.com/stefsimanowitz/status/1255056502752194562

7/. Britain was given the greatest gift any country could have wished for in the circumstances - a two-month head start - & our govt squandered it...deliberately

#COVID19 wasn’t “an invisible mugger”

We knew about COVID19 & asymptomatic spread in January

8/. There have been several "penny drop" moments in my investigation into #COVID19 strategy

Watching the #GreenwichSpeech on 16/4 was one of them

THIS was the STRATEGY

#TakeItOnTheChin had started my investigation

The #GreenwichSpeech opened new doors

https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1252354324136521736

9/. Could it be that the bewildering multiplicity of scandals are part a single overarching scandal?

The #HerdImmunityScandal [THREAD👇🏽]

The govt knew that #HerdImmunity is an "outcome" NOT a strategy, so why did they act as if it was their strategy?

https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1283936808963903489

10/. This is a long story, but my investigation began with a tip off about the PM’s #TakeItOnTheChin comments on 5 March, which I dug up

I’d was still trying to work out why the PM had said this when - on 12 March - @Peston, briefed by govt, wrote
#HerdImmunity, was UK strategy!

https://twitter.com/stefsimanowitz/status/1239099604228071424