Cummings Row Lingers On as U.K. Defends Easing of Lockdown

(Bloomberg) --

The U.K. government came under pressure from its own scientists to show caution in the pace at which it's lifting the lockdown, as the behavior of the prime minister's adviser Dominic Cummings faced fresh criticism from senior scientists and academics.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab defended the decision to allow some loosening of restrictions after a group of more than 20 experts wrote a letter to the Observer newspaper flagging their concerns. They argued that public faith in the government's handling of the virus has been badly damaged by Cummings, who has been accused of flouting the lockdown rules he helped create.

“Scientists do not always agree,” Raab said in a Sky News interview on Sunday. “That's the way we get better advice from them. As elected politicians we've got to take the judgment calls and be responsible for those.”

With the most deaths linked to the coronavirus after the U.S., the U.K. has been under lockdown for more than two months. It reported another 113 deaths Sunday, bringing the total to 38,489. The U.K. also announced that it had reached its target for capacity to conduct 200,000 tests a day.

Track and Trace

The restrictions have led to a decline in fatalities, and testing may help track the spread and trace potential new infections. But the scientists advising the government on the pandemic fear an uptick in new cases if the economy is reopened too quickly.

“We're reasonably confident that the steps that we've taken and will be taking on Monday are manageable,” Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said at the government's daily briefing on Sunday. “But we have to all continue to play our part. The room for maneuver is quite limited. We'll obviously keep this under very close scrutiny.”

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Van-Tam said Saturday that easing must go “painstakingly” slowly, while John Edmunds and Jeremy Farrar, members of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, told Sky News that an “untested” system to track and trace the spread of the virus exacerbated the risk of wider contagion.

Cancer Backlog

The letter to the Observer noted that the medical needs of those affected by other diseases are being neglected and stated there's an estimated backlog of 100,000 undiagnosed or untreated cancer cases.

Such concerns may prove politically damaging as controversy remains around Boris Johnson's adviser, who admitted to driving more than 250 miles to seek help with childcare from his family at a time he feared he and his wife had contracted the virus.

Public trust “has been badly damaged by the actions of Dominic Cummings, including his failure to stand down or resign in the public interest, and Boris Johnson's subsequent unwillingness to remove him,” the letter said.

An opinion poll for the Guardian newspaper found that support for Johnson's Conservative Party took another hit in the wake of the furor over Cummings. The survey by Opinium shows backing for the Tories has fallen 8 points in the past week -- the main opposition Labour Party now trails the government by 4 points.

Read: Johnson Says Britons Can Meet Outside as Cummings Row Lingers

Johnson has tried to convince the media and the public to move on from the Cummings affair, going so far as telling some of his senior advisers not to answer questions from the press when he shared the daily briefing with them on May 28. He wasn't on the podium Saturday when Van-Tam was asked whether he thought the lockdown rules applied to everyone and the health officer weighed in.

“In my opinion the rules are clear and they have always been clear,” he said, in what's been portrayed as a veiled swipe at Cummings. Fellow Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jenny Harries on Sunday said she fully agreed with his comments.

Read: U.K. Makes Plans to Reopen Car Showrooms and More Stores in June

The latest guidance includes allowing horse racing to take place without spectators from Monday. Sports like soccer, rugby, cricket, golf and snooker will follow, also without fans in attendance.

The government had previously announced it would push for some schools to open from June 1 and allow some non-essential businesses to open from June 15.

Raab told the BBC on Sunday that, if necessary, the government will reimpose lockdowns in areas where infections rise.

“We've definitely got the ability and indeed we will target specific settings or particular regions or geographic areas,” he said. “That gives us the confidence to make sure Britain steps forward in the way that we're doing tomorrow.”