Documents reviewed by the Covid inquiry showed that during the pandemic, Boris Johnson advocated for a more authoritative approach towards individuals who refused to self-isolate. Lord Patrick Vallance, former government chief scientific adviser, emphasized in his diary entries that policymakers leaned towards punitive actions rather than providing financial support. Lord Vallance’s informal reflections also revealed that officials consistently preferred punishment over incentives.
Speaking at the Covid inquiry’s sixth part, Lord Vallance discussed test, trace, and quarantine policies during the initial stages of the pandemic. In a series of diary entries from the first year of the crisis, he highlighted discussions with the prime minister and his senior advisors, including the inclination towards enforcement and punitive measures rather than incentives to encourage testing and self-isolation. Boris Johnson was quoted in one entry as advocating for harsher penalties and stricter measures to combat the rising Covid cases.
In September 2020, the government implemented a legal obligation for individuals who tested positive for Covid or were contacted by the test-and-trace service to self-isolate in England. Fines for repeat offenders ranged from £1,000 to £10,000, with additional financial support offered to lower-income individuals. The aim was to ensure that mass testing effectively identified potentially infectious individuals who could isolate to control the virus’s spread.
Former health secretary Matt Hancock stressed the importance of maintaining the capability to rapidly scale-up mass testing for future pandemics. Despite concerns about dismantling the testing system established in 2020, Hancock emphasized the need for readiness to expand testing capacity promptly when a new disease emerges. The inquiry also delved into a letter sent to Hancock by Nobel prize-winning scientists in April 2020, urging regular testing for healthcare workers, which was acknowledged by the former health secretary as part of the government’s broader strategy to address Covid transmission by asymptomatic individuals
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