A cause for concern

摘要

AS THE covid-19 pandemic rages on, governments are turning to teams of scientists for guidance on how to proceed. On 20 March, the UK government finally published the scientific advice it had received. At first, most commentators welcomed the transparency. But closer reading of the documents made available online suggests a few causes for concern. The strongest advice from the World Health Organization (WHO) on controlling outbreaks of the coronavirus - abundant testing -barely gets a mention, for example. And the guidance seems to lean heavily on a single model of the outbreak, one that some scientists suggest contains systematic errors. The UK government is advised by a panel of epidemiologists, infectious disease modellers, virologists, medical doctors and groups that focus on pandemic influenzas. The exact members vary, a government representative told New Scientist.