Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Sunday, Jun 01, 2025

Fact-checking Matt Hancock's Covid claims

Fact-checking Matt Hancock's Covid claims

Health Secretary Matt Hancock spent more than four hours being questioned by MPs about the government's response to the Covid pandemic.

His evidence came two weeks after the prime minister's former adviser Dominic Cummings made a series of allegations - we've looked at several of the points Mr Hancock made at the latest hearing.

"There was never a point at which NHS providers couldn't get access to PPE"


Mr Hancock cited a report from the National Audit Office (NAO) to support this claim.

The report says: "The NHS provider organisations we spoke to told us that, while they were concerned about the low stocks of PPE, they were always able to get what they needed in time."

But the next sentence says: "However, this was not the experience reported by many front-line workers."


It cites surveys by bodies such as the Royal College of Nursing (in April and May 2020) showing that a "significant proportion of participating care workers, doctors and nurses reported having insufficient PPE, even in high-risk settings".

It adds that "government structures were overwhelmed in March 2020" and that while the government did then set up structures to obtain PPE, that "it took a long time for it to receive the large volumes of PPE ordered".

There was also guidance issued by the government in April 2020 (and since withdrawn) telling front-line staff what they should do to cope with "acute shortages" of PPE.

"1.6% of the transmission into care homes came through this route [from hospital discharges]"


Mr Hancock was asked whether failing to test people who were discharged from hospital into care homes early in the first wave, had contributed to the spread of coronavirus there.

The 1.6% figure comes from a recently published Public Health England report.

However, this estimate comes with some major caveats. It is based on positive tests of care home residents but we know that, early on in the pandemic, testing in these settings was limited.

So, the analysis misses people who spread the virus but hadn't been tested because they didn't show symptoms, or because there weren't enough tests available.

It also misses outbreaks triggered when someone passed it on to a care worker who then did a shift in another home and took the virus there.

As Mr Hancock explained, discharges may not have been the main source of care home spread.

There were far fewer hospital discharges going into care homes each day than there were staff or visitors, each of whom could have brought in the virus.

But Science and Technology Committee chairman Greg Clark told Mr Hancock it is a "stretch of the imagination" to say that the figure is as low as 1.6%, when the data can't properly spot all the seeding events.


"On borders, the position we took was based not just on World Health Organization [WHO] advice but on their international health regulations"


In February 2020, the WHO advised that: "Travel bans to affected areas or denial of entry to passengers coming from affected areas are usually not effective in preventing the importation of cases, but may have a significant economic and social impact."

This was a recommendation - so non-binding - rather than part of the international health regulations. And a number of countries chose not to follow it.

Australia, New Zealand and India almost entirely closed their borders - and it has been noted that they were comparatively well protected during the first wave of Covid. Other countries brought in much more stringent restrictions than the UK, banning entry to all but their citizens or residents, including Singapore, Vietnam, Israel, the Philippines, Taiwan and Argentina.

Between January and March 2020, the UK introduced some measures including imposing quarantine on 273 people travelling from Wuhan in China.

Others from "high-risk countries" including China, Iran and northern Italy were asked to voluntarily isolate for 14 days (though the self-isolation requirements were withdrawn on 13 March).

One study found the virus was introduced to the UK "well over 1,000 times in early 2020", with a third of transmission chains brought in from Spain, followed by 29% from France, neither of which faced any restrictions. China accounted for just 0.4% of imported cases.

The UK strengthened its border policy earlier this year.


"There is no country in the world that uses only testing and doesn't have some form of lockdown as well"


Mr Hancock's claim was interrupted by the former health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, who said that South Korea had not had a lockdown.

It's true that South Korea did not implement a national lockdown, but managed to control transmissions by rapidly developing a "test, trace and treat" system.

From 20 February 2020, all symptomatic people were tested, as well as their close contacts (regardless of whether or not they had symptoms).

Mass testing was also used in high-risk facilities such as hospitals and care homes, from mid-March. All confirmed cases were either isolated in a hospital, at home, or in a residential treatment centre.

South Korea implemented some lockdown measures including moving schools to remote learning in late February 2020 (they gradually reopened in May) and, in a region with a high rate of infections, asking people to refrain from leaving their homes for at least two weeks.

South Korea has had a much lower death rate than the UK - 39 confirmed deaths per one million people compared with 1,887 in the UK, according to Our World in Data.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
OPEC+ Agrees to Increase Oil Output for Third Consecutive Month
Turkey Detains Istanbul Officials Amid Anti-Corruption Crackdown
Meta and Anduril Collaborate on AI-Driven Military Augmented Reality Systems
EU Central Bank Pushes to Replace US Dollar with Euro as World’s Main Currency
European and Arab Ministers Convene in Madrid to Address Gaza Conflict
U.S. Health Secretary Ends Select COVID-19 Vaccine Recommendations
Trump Warns Putin Is 'Playing with Fire' Amid Escalating Ukraine Conflict
India and Pakistan Engage Trump-Linked Lobbyists to Influence U.S. Policy
U.S. Halts New Student Visa Interviews Amid Enhanced Security Measures
Trump Administration Cancels $100 Million in Federal Contracts with Harvard
SpaceX Starship Test Flight Ends in Failure, Mars Mission Timeline Uncertain
King Charles Affirms Canadian Sovereignty Amid U.S. Statehood Pressure
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Founder Warns Against Trusting Regime in Nuclear Talks
UAE Offers Free ChatGPT Plus Subscriptions to Citizens
Lebanon Initiates Plan to Disarm Palestinian Factions
Iran and U.S. Make Limited Progress in Nuclear Talks
The Daily Debate: The Fall of the Dollar — Strategic Reset or Economic Self-Destruction?
Trump Administration's Tariff Policies and Dollar Strategy Spark Global Economic Debate
OpenAI Acquires Jony Ive’s Startup for $6.5 Billion to Build a Revolutionary “Third Core Device”
Turkey Weighs Citizens in Public as Erdoğan Launches National Slimming Campaign
Saudi-Spanish Business Forum Commences in Riyadh
Saudi Arabia and Spain Sign MoU to Boost SME Sectors
UK Suspends Trade Talks with Israel Amid Gaza Offensive
Iran and U.S. Set for Fifth Round of Nuclear Talks Amid Rising Tensions
Russia Expands Military Presence Near Finland Amid Rising Tensions
Indian Scholar Arrested in Crackdown Over Pakistan Conflict Commentary
Israel Eases Gaza Blockade Amid Internal Dispute Over Military Strategy
President Biden’s announcement of advanced prostate cancer sparked public sympathy—but behind closed doors, Democrats are in panic
A Chinese company made solar tiles that look way nicer than regular panels!
Indian jet shootdown: the all-robot legion behind China’s PL-15E missiles
The Chinese Dragon: The True Winner in the India-Pakistan Clash
Australia's Venomous Creatures Contribute to Life-Saving Antivenom Programme
The Spanish Were Right: Long Working Hours Harm Brain Function
Did Former FBI Director Call for Violence Against Trump? Instagram Post Sparks Uproar
US and UAE Partner to Develop Massive AI Data Center Complex
Apple's $95 Million Siri Settlement: Eligible Users Have Until July 2 to File Claims
US and UAE Reach Preliminary Agreement on Nvidia AI Chip Imports
President Trump and Elon Musk Welcomed by Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim with Cybertruck Convoy
Strong Warning Issued: Do Not Use General Chatbots for Medical, Legal, or Educational Guidance
Saudi Arabia Emerges as Global Tech Magnet with U.S. Backing and Trump’s Visit
This was President's departure from Saudi Arabia. The Crown Prince personally escorted him back to the airport.
NVIDIA and Saudi Arabia Launch Strategic Partnership to Establish AI Centers
Trump Meets Syrian President Ahmad al-Shara in Historic Encounter
Trump takes a blow torch to the neocons and interventionists while speaking to the Saudis
US and Saudi Arabia Sign Landmark Agreements Across Multiple Sectors
Why Saudi Arabia Rolled Out a Purple Carpet for Donald Trump Instead of Red
Elon Musk Joins Trump Meeting in Saudi Arabia
Trump says it would be 'stupid' not to accept gift of Qatari plane
Quantum Computing Threatens Bitcoin Security
Michael Jordan to Serve as Analyst for NBA Games
×