The United Kingdom has unveiled a plan to combat the coronavirus, which was developed 16 years ago and lost. This was reported by the Independent.
The United Kingdom government developed a strategy to respond to the coronavirus outbreak in 2005. The document was a response to the SARS epidemic, first detected in China in 2003. Then the virus also spread rapidly to all countries of the world, had a high probability of complications and severe disease, but the outbreak was suppressed in eight months.
In this regard, it was recommended to create an infrastructure for testing for viruses and a large stock of personal protective equipment. In response to the pandemic, travel restrictions and self-isolation were imposed. The strategy also included special measures to prevent the “super-spread” of infection. According to a government adviser, the British lost the chance to save tens of thousands of lives because they did not use the document during the COVID-19 epidemic.
At the beginning of the increase in morbidity in March 2020, ministers began to prepare response measures from scratch. According to officials, no one knew about the plan. Instead, the authorities were partly guided by a strategy to combat pandemic influenza.