On Friday’s Any Questions on Radio 4, eminent microbiologist Professor Hugh Pennington – former president of the Society for General Microbiology – told listeners that the government’s advice on handwashing is going to be ineffective in slowing the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus:
The professor said that he looked forward to a plunge in the number of food-poisoning cases as a result of more frequent hand-washing, but as COVID-19 is spread by people breathing in droplets breathed out by an infected person, that:
basically handwashing doesn’t come into it.
Pennington’s comments further underscore the growing conviction that the Boris Johnson and Health Secretary Matt Hancock are not only out of their depth, but misleading the public.
Supermarket chains have already said that Hancock’s claims that the government is coordinating with them to secure supply chains is ‘made up’, while travellers returning from the Italian coronavirus hotspot have shown that they are being allowed free movement around the country without even basic checks upon their return to the UK.
The SKWAWKBOX needs your support. This blog is provided free of charge but depends on the generosity of its readers to be viable. If you can afford to, please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here for a monthly donation via GoCardless. Thanks for your solidarity so this blog can keep bringing you information the Establishment would prefer you not to know about.
If you wish to reblog this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.