Sir Jeremy Farrar, director of The Wellcome Trust, says it’s possible the UK could end up with the worst coronavirus death rate in Europe.
The Welcome Trust is a scientific pharmaceutical research charity that supports policy makers and tackles health challenges with a £26.8bn investment portfolio.
He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show that the “Numbers in the UK have continued to go up.
“And yes, the UK is likely to be certainly one of the worst, if not the worst affected country in Europe.”
By continuing to test people for coronavirus in the community would “buy you time” to deal with the crisis.
Sir Jeremy said, this would provide an additional six to eight weeks to ensure health systems were up to capacity.
He added, “Undoubtedly there are lessons to learn from that.”
He told Marr that “at least $8bn is still needed to achieve this Covid-19 exit strategy.
“Governments, businesses and philanthropists must work together so that diagnostics, treatments and vaccines are accessible to all.”
Developing a coronavirus vaccine quickly is an “unprecedented ambition” and the “results of trials may come as soon as the summer.
“But this must align with scaling up manufacture for billions of doses.
“Treatments and vaccines are the only exit strategy from second and third waves of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“But it’s critical that these innovations are affordable and accessible to all.”
The total UK deaths now stands at 9,875 and according to a medical expert the death toll is likely to surpass 10,000 on Easter Sunday.
A total of 823 new cases were recorded in England, NHS England said the patients were aged between 11 and 102-years old.
He said, “there is no magical solution.”
Professor Powis added, “This was never going to be a sprint, this is a marathon.”
As Britons are still flouting the lockdown and social distancing measures a Cabinet minister wants a French-style “permission slip policy” to implement extreme lockdown measures.
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