UK's COVID-19 outcome has not been good, mistakes were likely made - chief scientist

Britain has not achieved a good outcome in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, the government's chief scientific adviser said on Thursday, adding that he was sure that mistakes had been made in the response to the crisis.

"It's very difficult to know exactly where we stand at the moment. It's clear that the outcome has not been good in the UK, I think we can be absolutely clear about that," Patrick Vallance told lawmakers, adding that some countries had done worse.

"There will be things, decisions made, that will turn out not to have been the right decisions at the time, I'm sure about that as well," he added.