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The images from No 10 Downing Street during early 2020 show whiteboards covered in hand-drawn charts and bulleted notes related to Covid-19. One graph notably predicts that if the virus were allowed to spread unchecked, over 100,000 people could die “in [hospital] corridors” during an upcoming wave, highlighting the dire potential impact on the NHS.
Key points from the timeline related to these images and events:
– **March 15, 2020**: Dominic Cummings sends a WhatsApp message to Prime Minister Boris Johnson revealing that Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance supports a so-called “Plan B” — an emergency approach to prevent the NHS collapsing by introducing restrictions to delay the spread and increase hospital capacity.
– Over the following week, Covid regulations across the UK became tighter, including advice to avoid non-essential contact and work from home, followed by closing schools, pubs, restaurants, gyms, and cinemas.
– **March 22, 2020**: London Mayor Sadiq Khan sends a private letter to Boris Johnson expressing serious concerns that the government’s messaging is unclear, being ignored by many, and that lives are being endangered as a result.
– **March 23, 2020**: Johnson makes a televised address telling the public to stay at home, announcing the first national lockdown.
– Despite hospitals being under severe pressure with intensive care units overflowing, the NHS managed not to turn away emergency patients. Covid cases, hospitalizations, and deaths then began to decline.
– The lockdown was costly socially and economically, causing disruption in education, increased loneliness and mental health problems, and impacting jobs and businesses.
– **May 22, 2020**: Johnson sends a handwritten note requesting a plan called “operation BOUNCEBACK” to revive the UK economy, signaling an aim to move from controlling Covid to economic recovery.
– Some restrictions were eased, allowing small groups to meet outdoors and schools to reopen in phases.
– Later in summer 2020, Chancellor Rishi Sunak introduced the “Eat Out to Help Out” scheme to encourage economic activity in hospitality with 50% discounts on food and drinks for certain days in August. However, concerns persisted about its effect on virus spread in high-infection areas.
– On August 24, 2020, Health Secretary Matt Hancock warns senior civil servant Simon Case by WhatsApp that the scheme was causing problems in intervention areas (high-infection local authorities), advising against its extension despite economic popularity.
These images and documents highlight the tensions and trade-offs faced by the government balancing public health against economic and social impacts, under intense pressure to act decisively with incomplete information.
If you want, I can summarize or analyze specific parts of these documents or timeline events further!
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More
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