Coronavirus: Scientists criticise Whitty’s claims it will be difficult for UK to eliminate Covid-19

Independent SAGE calling for ‘zero Covid’ approach

Top scientists have hit out at claims by England’s chief medical officer that the UK will struggle to eliminate Covid-19.

The Independent SAGE group, led by former chief scientific adviser for England Sir David King, is calling for a ‘zero Covid’ approach.

Scotland is within “touching distance” of that goal, they believe.

But last week England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty warned that eliminating Covid-19 in a “highly connected” country like the UK was unlikely.

He told the Lords Science and Technology Committee: “Elimination means zero cases onward transmitted and for this disease this is going to be very difficult.”

He added: “We’ve tried to eliminate or eradicate a very large number of diseases over the years.

“We have so far in humans eradicated one, smallpox, and we’ve tried on a lot of other occasions. This is not an easy thing to do.”

Prof Gabriel Scally, a member of the Independent Sage group, said it was possible to eliminate Covid-19.

He agreed with Prof Whitty’s definition of ‘elimination’ as no onward transmission of cases within the UK.

But he added that Britain had a “long history of eliminating diseases”.

He pointed to measles as an example of a disease that was effectively eliminated for a long period of time in the UK, before making a resurgence in more recent years.

With Covid-19 “it is possible”, he said, adding that Scotland was within “touching distance” of eliminating the disease.