https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/coronavirus-government-advisers-lying-to-support-regime-with-collapsing-credibility-says-lancet-editor/ar-BB12UmAC

Medical advisers have been accused of lying to the British public about the coronavirus pandemic to prop up the government.

Richard Horton, the editor of medical journal The Lancet, criticised the government’s advisers, accused them of telling “manifest untruths”.

In a tweet posted on Sunday evening, he wrote: “When you see supposedly independent medical advisors to government tell what are manifest untruths to shore up a political regime whose credibility is rapidly collapsing, you have to say that those advisors have lost their integrity and our trust.”

When you see supposedly independent medical advisors to government tell what are manifest untruths to shore up a political regime whose credibility is rapidly collapsing, you have to say that those advisors have lost their integrity and our trust.

— richard horton (@richardhorton1) April 19, 2020

On Sunday, during the government’s daily COVID-19 briefing, England’s deputy chief medical officer, Dr Jenny Harries, claimed the UK has been an “international exemplar in preparedness” during the pandemic.

She made the remark despite anger from NHS officials over a continued lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) for health workers and a report in the Sunday Times claiming the government dithered in its response to the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

Of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 16,060 have died, according to the government.

At the end of last month, Horton criticised Dr Harries after she claimed the UK had a “perfectly adequate supply of PPE”.