Ministers have been accused of “turning off the headlights at the first sign of dawn” after scrapping nationwide Covid surveillance programmes, with scientists saying it will almost certainly end up costing more money in the long run. The Office for National Statistics’ Covid infection survey, which regularly samples the same 180,000 people to estimate what percentage of the UK populations is infected, will continue. “Many people in the UK will not be in the position to spend a significant portion of their budget on testing each week. “Right now is the last time that countries like the UK and US should be cutting funding or abandoning any surveillance and testing measures. As much as we all would like it to be, the pandemic is far from over.”

Source: The Guardian March 13, 2022 23:51 UTC