“We have to scare everyone”: this is how the British government wanted to manage Covid

panic People to ensure compliance with lockdowns and Covid restrictions. This is what emerges from the private conversations he published Sunday Telegraph And it dates back to the government of Boris Johnson and the most difficult period of the pandemic, the revelations of which are causing serious embarrassment to the English Conservative Party.

Minister of State for Health at the time Matt Hancock He told his co-workers that his goal was to “Scare the shit out of everyoneTo ensure that restrictions are followed. WhatsApp messages refer to how the then health minister and others discussed how to use an advertisement for a “Kent” variant to scare the public into changing their behaviour. Simon Case, UK Cabinet Secretary, suggested in January 2021 that fear would be a “vital” factor in stopping the spread of the virus, according to reports. guardian. Hancock’s advisor further suggested that it would be helpful.Raise the tone with the new variation“.”We’re scaring everyone with the new strainreplied the then Minister of Health.

Messages embarrassing the UK government

there conversation, on December 13, 2020, amid fears of the rapid spread of coronavirus in south-east England. Hancock publicly announced that a new variant of Covid-19 had been identified in the UK the following day, 14 December. Five days later, London and the southeast of England were reported to have entered a new alert level, Level 4, forcing Prime Minister Boris Johnson to ban gatherings before Christmas. Then, on January 6, 2021, England went into national lockdown.

journalist Isabel Oakeshott He originally received the material from Hancock while they were collaborating on his memoirs. The former minister denounced the leak, describing it as “betrayalIn order to fuel the newspaper’s libertarian and “anti-lockdown” narrative. In a statement this week, Hancock said all of the material in his book has been made available for official investigation COVID-19. For his part, Oakeshott said private messages are in the public interest and should therefore be made public.

Controversy over the origin of covid

While in the UK the spread of Hancock’s private letters has reshuffled the toughest phase of the pandemic and stirred tensions in the Tory house, in the US the debate is once again turning toOrigin from the virus. In the background, the growing tensions between Washington and China. like previously revealed Wall Street JournalTwo important US government agencies – the Department of Energy and the FBI – now believe that Covid-19 did not originate from a Chinese “wet market” and thus from jumping natural species but from a virus “escape” – most likely accidental – by the Institute of Virology. Wuhan.

on Fox NewsDirector of the FBI Christopher Ray He reaffirmed the agency’s position on this issue. “The FBI has long assessed that the origins of the epidemic are likely a possible laboratory accident in Wuhan.”Ray said during the interview. “You’re talking about a possible leak from a Chinese government-controlled lab hereWray noted that the Beijing government has tried to scuttle and obscure the federal investigation, but the bureau continues its work.