“Dominic Cummings, the former chief strategist to U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, delivered bombshell testimony Wednesday on the British government’s early response to the coronavirus, apologizing for falling ‘disastrously short’ in a way that cost thousands of lives. Cummings, a controversial figure known as the architect behind the Brexit campaign, has become one of Johnson’s most troublesome critics since resigning from government after a bitter power struggle last year. Cummings has poor public approval and trust ratings – especially after he was accused of breaking the U.K.’s strict COVID lockdown rules last year – but his role as the most powerful aide in Downing Street gave him unique insight into the government’s early pandemic response.”

“The U.K. was one of the worst-hit countries in Europe, both in terms of coronavirus death toll and economic damage, but a world-leading vaccine rollout has brought the country back to the brink of normality. Cummings testified that in February 2020, Johnson viewed COVID-19 as a ‘scare story’ and suggested that he could have England’s chief medical officer inject him with the virus on live television to reassure the public. Herd immunity – either in September 2020 after a single peak or January 2021 after a second peak – was viewed by the U.K. government as an ‘inevitability’ up until mid-March, Cummings testified. He claimed that the U.K.’s top civil servant even advocated for ‘chicken pox parties’ to get people infected. Downing Street has denied that purposely aiming for herd immunity, which would have resulted in mass death, was ever government policy.” – Axios.