England's lockdown did not prevent people dying of Covid, experts say
, the Government had concluded there was no option but to issue an unprecedented order to curb the growing pandemic crisis. It was following the science, after all.
Within days, schools were shut and those considered most vulnerable to the virus – pregnant women, the over-70s and people with serious health conditions – were advised not to go outside. 'We are going to defeat this disease with a huge national effort to slow the spread by reducing unnecessary social contact,' the PM told the nation.
For the past few weeks, in a series of reports probing the science that has underpinned key pandemic decisions, The Mail on Sunday has investigated the accuracy of PCR tests and the chaotic way Covid-related deaths were recorded. 'The obvious one is the immense harm the lockdown, more than any other measure, did in terms of the economy, mental health and on the wellbeing of society.'But many analyses suggest that lockdown itself didn't have a huge impact on reducing the health burden. That was achieved in other ways.'
One paper that did attempt to tease out the benefits of individual measures, published last month, found stay-at-home orders reduced global Covid deaths by just 2.9 per cent. But he also points out that, while the figures quoted are 'pretty meaningless, the general idea is not totally wild'. 'We focused on this idea that if we stopped the virus transmitting among everybody, that this would somehow be sufficient to protect those who were at risk,' he says. 'And it wasn't.'