🦠 Half a million has already died in the U.K. because of COVID-19
The lead epidemiologist, behind a report that prompted the British government to ramp up its coronavirus response has developed a fever and entered into self-quarantine, he wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.
The scientist, Neil Ferguson, and his colleagues at Imperial College warned that an uncontrolled spread of the disease could cause as many as 510,000 deaths in Britain. Using mathematical modeling, the report also predicted that the virus would overwhelm hospitals and that governments had no choice but to impose lockdown policies.
American officials said the report, which projected up to 2.2 million deaths in the United States from such a spread, also influenced the White House to strengthen its measures to isolate members of the public.
Dr. Ferguson blamed his own sickness on a density of infections.
“There is a lot of Covid-19 in Westminster,” he wrote. According to Public Health England data on Wednesday, 58 cases have been reported in this particular district.
