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| Coronavirus: Prof Neil Ferguson quits government role after 'undermining' lockdown | Coronavirus: Prof Neil Ferguson quits government role after 'undermining' lockdown |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Prof Neil Ferguson has quit as a government adviser on coronavirus after admitting an "error of judgement". | |
| Prof Ferguson, whose advice to the prime minister led to the UK lockdown, said he regretted "undermining" the messages on social distancing. | |
| It comes after the Daily Telegraph reported he had broken the rules aimed at stopping the spread of coronavirus. | |
| His modelling of the virus's transmission suggested 250,000 people could die without drastic action. | |
| This led Prime Minister Boris Johnson to announce on 23 March that he was imposing widespread curbs on daily life. | |
| In a statement, released after reports that a woman had visited his home twice during lockdown, Prof Ferguson said: "I accept I made an error of judgement and took the wrong course of action. | |
| "I have therefore stepped back from my involvement in Sage (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies). | |
| "I acted in the belief that I was immune, having tested positive for coronavirus and completely isolated myself for almost two weeks after developing symptoms." | |
| "I deeply regret any undermining of the clear messages around the continued need for social distancing," he said. | "I deeply regret any undermining of the clear messages around the continued need for social distancing," he said. |
| He called the government advice on social distancing "unequivocal", adding that it was there "to protect all of us". | |
| Prof Neil Ferguson is one of the world's most influential disease modellers. | |
| He is director of the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis. | |
| The centre's mathematical predictions advise governments and the World Health Organization on outbreaks from Ebola in West Africa to the current pandemic. | |
| It was that group's work, in early January, that alerted the world to the threat of coronavirus. | |
| It showed hundreds if not thousands of people were likely to have been infected in Wuhan, at a time when Chinese officials said there were only a few dozen cases. | |
| But he shot to public attention as "Professor Lockdown". | |
| In mid-March, the maths showed the UK needed to change course or a quarter of a million people would die in a "catastrophic epidemic". | |
| Those calculations helped transform government policy and all lives. |