Ministers may have “overdone” the dangers of coronavirus in public health messages that made people “incredibly afraid”, Professor Sir Chris Whitty has said.
Giving evidence to the Covid inquiry on Thursday, the chief medical officer said that advice to stay at home during the pandemic meant too many people having heart attacks did not seek help.
Whitty was asked by Jacqueline Carey KC, counsel to the inquiry, if the UK “got the balance right” between telling people the NHS was open, while urging them to “protect the NHS”.
He replied that the government and health chiefs “didn’t get it across that people should still go to hospital”, and that they may also have “pushed too strongly” on the risks of the virus.
Professor Sir Chris Whitty defended the need for lockdowns, saying the country was facing a “catastrophic situation”
PA
Whitty said: “I