Video
Lack of intelligence sharing between countries cost lives, says UK defence minister
Archive photograph of Boris Johnson visiting HMS Victorious with Defence Secretary Ben Wallace at HM Naval Base Clyde in Faslane, Scotland. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/PA. - Credit: PA
The defence secretary has claimed that more lives could have been saved if countries had shared more intelligence about the coronavirus.
Appearing on Nick Ferrari's LBC programme, Ben Wallace did not agree with fellow minister Grant Shapps' claims that deaths could have been prevented if the UK had been quicker with testing.
But Wallace said that if the UK government had known about Covid-19 'from the outset' more lives could have been saved.
He did not agree with suggestions that it was a 'country-by-country problem' despite the fact the UK was on-course to have the most deaths in Europe.
He said: 'It came from the other side of the world and all of us have been learning on the job.
'If we had known from the outset about the virus, of course more lives could have been saved. But I don't think it is a country-by-country problem.'
You may also want to watch:
He continued: 'Let's remember at the beginning of this, the problem with testing was not the people, it was the shortage of reagents. I was involved in ringing round my counterparts in Europe asking if they had the reagents and they too didn't have the testing reagents.
'So it wasn't as simple, unless your country already had its health service designed to be diagnostic-front heavy like Germany was, to pop up the testing immediately.
Most Read
- 1 Leave EU website suspended after EU registry blocks move to Ireland
- 2 Priti Patel fails to appear in Commons to answer questions on missing police records
- 3 Boris Johnson blames seafood companies for post-Brexit sales slump
- 4 The Tory MPs who failed to vote against a Universal Credit cut
- 5 Comedian wins praise after shaming No 10 during Dancing on Ice appearance
- 6 Iain Duncan Smith defends calling Donald Trump 'a decent man'
- 7 The bigot we should have called out on day one
- 8 Kwasi Kwarteng confirms post-Brexit review of workers' rights
- 9 Tory minister admits UK rejected EU's music visa offer in order to 'take back control' of borders
- 10 Progressive alliance could see Labour win 351 seats at next election, new analysis reveals
'Of course, testing globally would have improved all of our chances with understanding this virus because part of the epidemiology is informed by knowing who's got it and how they respond. I think that has been a challenge.'
Become a Supporter
The New European is proud of its journalism and we hope you are proud of it too. We believe our voice is important - both in representing the pro-EU perspective and also to help rebalance the right wing extremes of much of the UK national press. If you value what we are doing, you can help us by making a contribution to the cost of our journalism.