Sir Patrick Vallance says it’s 'absolutely' clear UK’s coronavirus outcome has not been good as he warns virus will likely be around ‘for a number of years’

  • – He also dampened hopes that a Covid-19 vaccine will be established soon
  • – Said there was 'no reason' to tell people to stop working from home
  • – And described it as 'incredibly depressing' that the virus 'has not only exposed inequalities but exaggerated them'

Chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance has admitted that the outcome of the coronavirus pandemic in the UK “has not been good”.

Speaking to the Commons’ Science and Technology Committee on Thursday afternoon, Sir Patrick conceded some decisions made by the Government will “turn out not to have been the right decisions at the time.”

However, he said that a number of complex factors would come into play when determining how well countries have responded to the outbreak.

He told MP’s: “As (chief medical officer Professor) Chris Whitty has said before, it’s very difficult to know where we stand at the moment.

“It’s clear that the outcome has not been good in the UK, I think you can be absolutely clear about that.

“It is clear you can see a band of countries that have done less well," he added.

“There are many factors that are going to play in this as we look and say, ‘what is it that makes some countries having done worse than others?’.

"And there will be decisions made that will turn out not to have been the right decisions at the time.”

He went on to warn that the virus was likely to be around for a number of years.

Asked about the potential of a second wave in winter, he said this would likely be considered "the tail end of the first wave" rather than a fresh outbreak.

“I think it is quite probable that we will see this virus coming back in different waves over a number of years,” he added.

He told the committee there was no assumption one would be found in the immediate future, adding: “Our assumption is we won’t have it (a vaccine) and when we get it we will be thrilled.”

Probed on “lessons learnt” from the crisis, Sir Patrick told the committee that the pandemic had shed light on the core importance of data collection and communication.

He warned that authorities would need to have strong systems already in place to deal with future emergencies.

As part of this, he said it would have been “absolutely preferable” to have much greater testing capacity earlier in the pandemic.

Sir Patrick shed his face mask at the start of the session, once he'd established the members were sat safely 2m from each other
Parliament TV

However, he added, the need was not just for strong testing programmes, "it’s basic information flows around patients in hospitals, around rates of admission, around rates of movement. Those sorts of things are important parts of this as well," he said.

The chief scientific adviser also said he sees “absolutely no reason” to change people working from home.

He told MPs: “I think my view on this, and I think this is a view shared by Sage, is that we’re still at a time when distancing measures are important.

“And, of the various distancing measures, working from home for many companies remains a perfectly good option because it’s easy to do.

“I think a number of companies think it’s actually not detrimental to productivity.

“And in that situation, absolutely no reason I can see to change it.”

Sir Patrick also stressed the “crucial” importance of understanding the indirect impact of lockdown on people’s mental and physical health.

He said: “If you look at overall excess deaths then you’re looking at the integrated effect of the virus itself with all the other reasons people may have suffered as a result of this.

“We do need to understand the impact of that and it’s very clear that lockdown itself carries risks, and those risks are to both physical health and mental health.”

Asked about access to information among all Britons, including those with disabilities or for whom English is not a first language, Sir Patrick said their were "many big issues" to address.

He added: "It's striking and incredibly depressing that this virus has not only exposed inequalities but it has exaggerated inequalities.

"And that is a very important thing for us to keep in mind in everything we do."

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