Coronavirus lockdown delay 'cost a lot of lives', says Sage member

Professor John Edmunds, a member of the government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), has told the BBC's Andrew Marr programme that the country should have gone into lockdown earlier, and that the delay "cost a lot of lives, unfortunately".

Professor Edwards, who specialises in infectious disease modelling at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said that an earlier lockdown would have been "very hard" but he wishes it had happened.

In response, the Health Secretary Matt Hancock insisted the government had been guided by the science and took the right decisions at the right time.

Read more: Hancock insists lockdown timing was right decision