Matt Hancock has revealed that his ‘biggest regret’ during the pandemic was not ‘overruling’ scientists’ advice that Covid could not spread asymptomatically.
The former health minister claimed that scientific advisers told him that in the early months of the crisis there was no “concrete evidence” that the virus could spread between people without symptoms, such as coughing and loss of taste or smell.
He told the Covid Inquiry today that he was concerned about this route of transmission, referring to official US guidance from April 2020 which said it was ‘very likely’ and that he should have followed his ‘hunch’.
Had he known the virus could spread among people without obvious signs of the virus, it would have prompted a change in infection control measures in hospitals and care homes, the I’m a Celeb and SAS: Who Dares Wins claimed participant. .
Mr Hancock rejected comments from Dominic Cummings that officials knew the virus was spreading asymptomatically in early March 2020.
He also said it was “very frustrating” that top scientists then said they were “pretty clear” the virus was spreading among people without symptoms.
The former health minister claimed that scientific advisers told him that in the early months of the crisis there was no “concrete evidence” that the virus could spread between people without symptoms, such as coughing and loss of taste or smell.
The investigation also showed messages between Sir Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance expressing surprise that Boris Johnson and Mr Hancock were unaware of asymptomatic transmission. Speaking on July 24, 2020, Sir Patrick, then chief scientific adviser, said: ‘Why are the Prime Minister and Matt Hancock saying we knew nothing about asymptomatic transmission?’
Mr Hancock told the UK Covid inquiry he was aware of the possibility of the virus being transmitted asymptomatically and raised the issue in January 2020.
He said he was aware of “anecdotal evidence” that the virus was spreading without causing symptoms, but the policy was based on the assumption that this was not happening.
“My biggest regret, in retrospect, was not pushing for this harder and ultimately ignoring the formal scientific advice I was given,” he said.
He said the World Health Organization (WHO) had initially said there was no documented asymptomatic transmission, but the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published a study in April 2020 showing this was “very likely”.
Mr Hancock said the ‘fog of uncertainty’ over asymptomatic transmission of was ‘very frustrating’.
He said: “I was in the pro-let’s worry about the asymptomatic transmission camp. The frustration was that the PHE scientists, understandably from their point of view, and I put myself in their shoes, said we had no concrete evidence.”
Asked whether the government should have been aware of the possibility of asymptomatic transmission, he said he had “a significant amount of anecdotal evidence” but that “the scientific advice required, or the policy formally advised, should be based on the assumption that no asymptomatic transmission would occur. ‘.
Giving evidence to the inquiry, Mr Hancock branded Mr Cummings’ evidence as ‘not accurate’.
No10’s former chief adviser previously said that on March 11, 2020, it was widely believed that a “large percentage” of Covid transmission was occurring asymptomatically and it was believed that there would be planning material, chief counsel Hugo Keith KC told Mr Hancock.
Mr Hancock replied: ‘Well, that’s not accurate as a lot of the evidence from that particular witness is not accurate, that’s not accurate in all areas.’
He added: ‘I have applied the precautionary principle and in some cases overruled scientific advice on the precautionary side.’
The investigation also showed messages between Sir Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance expressing surprise that Boris Johnson and Mr Hancock were unaware of asymptomatic transmission.
Speaking on July 24, 2020, Sir Patrick, then chief scientific adviser, said: ‘Why are the Prime Minister and Matt Hancock saying we knew nothing about asymptomatic transmission?’
Sir Chris, England’s chief medical officer, replied: ‘I have no idea. We didn’t know how important they were, that’s true.
No10’s former chief adviser previously said that as of March 11, 2020, it was widely believed that a ‘large percentage’ of Covid transmission was occurring asymptomatically and it was believed that there would be planning material, chief counsel Hugo Keith KC (pictured) told Mr Hancock .
Matt Hancock arrives at the Covid inquiry today to give his evidence
“But it’s true that we thought transmission most likely occurred after (symptoms).”
Sir Patrick said: ‘Not by March. I think we were pretty clear that we thought there was asymptomatic transmission.”
Sir Chris replied: ‘Yes. We’re going to have to put up with quite a bit of it. It is just as well that wise minutes are in the public domain.’
Commenting on the reports, Mr Hancock said: ‘There was considerable uncertainty about this issue.
“It’s very frustrating to me now, and it was very frustrating to me at the time, that being ‘reasonably clear’ wasn’t good enough to change the scientific advice I was given and base my policy on that.”
Asked what measures could have been introduced if the advice had been clearer, Mr Hancock said: ‘It made a difference to the way infection prevention and control was delivered within health and care. That’s very clear.’
