Around 55,000 people could have coronavirus in the UK says government’s scientific chief

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

Around 55,000 people could have coronavirus in the UK according to the Government’s chief scientific adviser. Sir Patrick Vallance also said that the aim is for fewer than 20,000 people to die as a result of contracting the virus.

He made the staggering claim during a hearing of the Health Select Committee when chairman Jeremy Hunt asked whether the expected death rate was one fatality for every 1,000 cases, which would mean that there are “potentially 55,000 cases” at present.

Sir Patrick responded: “We’ve tried to get a handle on that in Sage (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies) and if you put all the modelling information together, that’s a reasonable ballpark way of looking at it. “It’s not more accurate than that.” Sir Patrick