A row broke out today over whether to close UK schools in a bid to halt coronavirus. Rory Stewart, the independent mayoral candidate, said Britain should follow Italy and parts of the US in shutting schools.
But he was accused by GPs of being “irresponsible” as his call runs against advice from the Government’s top medical and scientific advisers.
Mr Stewart, a former Tory cabinet minister, last night cancelled his mayoral campaign launch event in Battersea on Thursday.
The event, which was expected to have attracted 1,000 supporters, will instead become a “virtual” broadcast.
He said he decided to “set an example” by cancelling: “We have to take the coronavirus seriously. That means stopping large-scale gatherings. We should be doing this across London.”
He told BBC Breakfast schools should shut to show that the Government was “acting decisively”. He said: “Evidence from other pandemics is that closing schools and large gatherings earlier rather than later stops the peaks of this kind of disease.”
Dr Clare Gerada, a former chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: “It is irresponsible to be second-guessing expert advice.”
Dr Ellie Cannon accused Mr Stewart of “a lack of sense”, tweeting: “Such egotism to try & usurp expert advice for your own political gain. Where is your data to back up these wild ideas?”
But Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of The Lancet medical journal, said: “The Government is playing roulette with the public. This is a major error.”
