'The costs are too high': the scientist who wants lockdown lifted faster
Sunetra Gupta believes we may be underestimating how many people have fought off Covid-19
It was the moment the scientists veered off script. As ministers moved to ease the lockdown in late May, a handful of the government's advisers from Sage (the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies) went public with their fears. The virus was still a present danger, infecting thousands of people a day, they warned: now was not the time to lift the lockdown.
As others came out in support of the experts, it seemed most scientists were of one voice. But that is not the case. Sunetra Gupta, a professor of theoretical epidemiology at Oxford University, believes - somewhat controversially - that the lockdown should be lifted faster. In the rush to drive infections down, she fears the poorest have been brushed aside.
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