It has been stated that around 180,000 deaths from Covid-19 could have been prevented in the UK
Professor Anthony Costello, Lecturer at University College London, wrote an article titled "UK's decision not to suppress Covid-19 raises questions about medical and scientific advice" in the BMA's weekly peer-reviewed academic journal "The British Medical Journal".
According to the article, countries such as China, Japan and South Korea began to strongly implement the strategy of suppressing the epidemic with early testing, contact tracing, quarantine and financial support on January 24, 2020, which can be considered the beginning of the pandemic.
On January 28, the British government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) decided to respond to the outbreak based on influenza, unlike other countries, despite the advice of the World Health Organization (WHO).
The article commented that the reason for this was that the pandemic preparedness plan for influenza in 2011 may have influenced SAGE's view.
In the same days, countries such as Greece, Norway, Ireland and Germany took steps according to WHO recommendations, while only England and Sweden chose to act according to influenza.
In March, although the Ministry of Health prepared a report indicating a decrease in the number of infected people and hospitalization rates in countries trying to suppress the epidemic in Asia, SAGE did not change its recommendations.
At the beginning of March, the aim was to control the spread of the virus in order to achieve herd immunity in the country, but SAGE made the decision to prepare for influenza, which spread too quickly to be controlled by testing, instead of controlling the outbreak with Covid-19 tests, which increased deaths and financial losses.
For example, South Korea followed the outbreak by conducting 18,000 tests per day in the two hotspots where the outbreak was most common, but no such testing was done in London and the West Midlands, where the outbreak was most common in England.
South Korea also included general practitioners and medical students in the process, while the UK preferred to use volunteers.
Japan and South Korea provided financial support to those who had to quarantine for 14 days, while in the UK, support of £96 was provided, which very few people could afford. The UK was one of the three countries that provided the least amount of sickness support among the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.
Only 1 in 5 of those with Covid-19 symptoms at the start of the outbreak in the UK got tested, and of those, only 43% quarantined themselves for 14 days.
Due to mistakes made in combating the pandemic, 1.9 million people in the UK had Covid-19 symptoms by the end of 2023. More than 800,000 people were out of the workforce due to the long-term effects of the disease.
While Asian countries that took repressive measures grew economically in 2020, the UK experienced its biggest economic contraction since 1709, at 9.8%.
The UK has spent between £310 billion and £410 billion on the fight against Covid-19 and £450 billion on supporting the economy.
According to the International Monetary Fund's assessment, China spent $440 per person to control Covid-19, while the UK spent between $5,700 and $6,030 per person.
The article estimated that if a similar suppression strategy to the one in South Korea had been followed, the death rate in the UK would have been lower and approximately 180,000 deaths could have been prevented.
The article criticised SAGE's membership structure, gender and numbers, and called for urgent structural reform to prepare for future outbreaks.
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