PM reflects on regrets over coronavirus pandemic

Boris Johnson has said the "biggest false assumption" during the pandemic was over asymptomatic transmission, adding that no "previous government" had envisioned such a novel disease.

He told the Downing Street press conference: "In retrospect there are probably many things that we wish that we'd known and many things that we wish we'd done differently at the time." He added: "The misunderstanding about the reality of asymptomatic transmission certainly led to real problems that we then had to work very, very hard to make up ground." Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said having adequate testing in place at the beginning of the pandemic would have made a "big difference".

Report by Alibhaiz.

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