Coronavirus in the UK: ‘Legacy of poor decisions’ has led to 100,000 Covid deaths, says Prof Linda Bauld

One of Scotland’s leading public health experts has said a “legacy of poor decisions” around easing coronavirus restrictions and travel, coupled with the new variant, have led to “where we are now”.

Professor Linda Bauld, professor of public health at the University of Edinburgh, was speaking after the number of UK coronavirus deaths passed 100,000.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast on Wednesday, Prof Bauld said: “Unfortunately the number of people dying is not going to decline quickly, and even then it will remain for a while at a really high rate so we’re absolutely not out of it.

“I think where we are now is a legacy of poor decisions that were taken when we eased restrictions earlier in the year particularly around travel etc and then of course the variant has created extra pressure.”

Asked about quarantine hotels, Ms Bauld said “I think it’s difficult for us in the UK to think about a system like this but it’s absolutely essential.

“If you look at the genomics work that’s being done, looking at where the virus has come from – for example in the summer up here in Scotland, we got down to two cases on July 12, and tiny numbers in that month of July.

“And then as we headed into the late summer the genomic studies show us that we reimported the virus from overseas and from elsewhere in the UK into the country because of travel.

“And the overseas issue is something we can do something about, so adopting a model a bit like south-east Asian countries, Australia or New Zealand where we have quarantine that is not just voluntary like it is now, but supported quarantine – that will mean hotels for some people.

More than 100,000 people have died with Covid-19 in the UK.

“I can see that the UK Government may decide to start with countries where variants are a real concern, but I think going forward we’re going to have to apply that more comprehensively.”

When asked about quarantining and whether the lack of such measures earlier had contributed to the current situation, Prof Bauld said: “I think that it was a major factor.”

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