On Wednesday, Mark Drakeford declared that the Omicron variant is just as deadly as any previous Covid strain if the person infected had not contracted the virus before. In response to this statement, Jamie Jenkins, the former Head of Health Analysis at the Office for National Statistics (ONS), said that the Welsh First Minister was attempting to justify further Covid restrictions by deploying an “untrue statement with the intent to deceive” the public, and that the Welsh Government itself does not possess the evidence that upholds Drakeford’s conclusion. The Telegraph has the story.
Mark Drakeford has been accused of lying to the public by a former health statistics boss after he said Omicron was “probably” just as severe as delta, despite three studies concluding the opposite.
Jamie Jenkins, the former head of health analysis at the ONS, said that the Welsh First Minister had made an “untrue statement with the intent to deceive” as he scrambled to justify his Covid restrictions in the face of evidence that the latest Covid variant is milder.
On Wednesday, Drakeford said he did not think it is “as simple as saying Omicron is less serious than Delta”.
“If you have been infected previously, it may be that it is a less severe attack,” he told a press conference.
“If you have never had Covid and you get Omicron, the evidence is it is probably just as severe as any other form would be.”
His comments came despite new studies from the University of Edinburgh, the U.K. Health Security Agency and a group of South African scientists, which all suggested that Omicron produced less severe symptoms than delta, and was between 50% and 80% less likely to hospitalise patients.
Jenkins told the Telegraph that Drakeford was “deceiving the Welsh public” to justify Wales’s latest Covid restrictions, which include £60 fines for employees who travel to the office when they could work from home, a limit of six people in groups at pubs or restaurants and the return of two-metre social distancing.
He said that the Welsh Government appeared not to have firm evidence to support Drakeford’s assertion that Omicron was likely to be as severe as delta.
“I think the word ‘probably’ is a bit strange from the First Minister, because if you’re going to make statements to bring restrictions on businesses, you want more than ‘probably’,” he said.
“For him to say that the evidence is that it is ‘probably’ just as severe is just bizarre, because to say that, you have got to have some evidence, haven’t you?”
Worth reading in full.
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It’s pretty amazing that someone is publicly challenging the lies
I’m noticing a theme…there are more and more who were supporters, possibly even zealots (a la bedwetter-in-chief Owen Jones), that are starting to distance themselves away from the narrative.
Maybe for the first time in 21 months they’ve actually looked at some data?
He’s a turtle liar.
DON’T BELIEVE ANYTHING https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/svg/1f92c.svg Ferrari & LBC Fake News https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/svg/1f926-200d-2642-fe0f.svg Dad Didn’t Die Of Omicron In Northampton – YouTube
The first man to of Omicron?
LBC is fakenews
https://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/health/coronavirus/response-issued-after-claim-that-first-omicron-death-in-uk-happened-in-northampton-3501629
Response issued after claim that first Omicron death in UK happened in NorthamptonAn interviewee on national radio station LBC said his step-father died of Omicron at a Northampton hospital last week
Northampton General Hospital (NGH) has responded to a claim in the national press that the first Omicron death in the United Kingdom happened at the site last week.
This comes after LBC radio station had a man called John call in on Friday (December 17) saying that his step-father had died of the new variant at ‘a hospital in Northampton’.
John told radio host Nick Ferrari that his step-father in his 70s reportedly died with Omicron on Monday (December 13) after not being vaccinated.
Northampton General Hospital has said no one has died of Omicron despite rumours circulating in the national press
A spokesperson for NHS Northamptonshire CCG said: “The NHS system in Northamptonshire has not recorded an Omicron-related death at this time.”
Government trolls at work.
And is that Ferrari oik going to offer some sort of comment on this?
EXCLUSIVE https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/svg/1f62f.svg 4th Jabs Booked In Nottingham In March https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/svg/1f384.svg Merry Christmas https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/svg/1f385.svg – YouTube
” 4th Jabs Booked In Nottingham In March”
If Lewis Carroll wasn’t getting high, then perhaps he should have been. Because his fantasy worlds are pretty tame in comparison to the story that we are inhabiting.
“you’ve got to have some evidence?”
Evidence?
There hasn’t been any reliable Evidence that COVID was even directly responsible for thousands of deaths.
This is the biggest lie (out of a bad bunch).
Omicron is probably as deadly as all the other variants….which aren’t deadly.
No flu for two years and no one I know seems to suffer from the common cold, just COVID.
I bet if you PCRd for the ingredients in a chocolate digestive, everyone in hospital would be positive.
Evidence….not likely.
Someone did test salad cream, tomato sauce and HP sauce and they all gave positive results!!
He’s a dictator he doesn’t need to justify anything
If he says it then it is so
It’s time to make these petty tyrants lives more uncomfortable. They are having it way too easy.
Protests at their homes and directly hassling and challenging them in public would be a good start.
Drakeford lives at 193 Cathedral Road, Cardiff.
Be a shame if somebody put his windows through.
Bit of a slummy area. Yellowed net curtains and gloomy-looking dwellings. The plastic rubbish bins really add a touch of elegance though.
And his son resides at Her Majesty’s pleasure
You’d have thought that would have happened ages ago – but most people don’t seem too upset that their elderly parents died in abject misery in ‘care homes’, or that their basic freedoms have been stolen. People really have been brainwashed into a fear of social disapproval… that’s what the face masks are really all about, to show you are ‘one of them’ – they can’t really believe in The Virus otherwise these old twats wouldn’t be going to garden centres and National Trust properties and supermarkets in the midst of a pandemic.
Where is the anger? Do people really believe there’s a virus that’s going to hang around in the air for the next 10 years? Psychiatrists would be laughing at the absurdity at all this – only they too believe in it all – or pretend they do.
Beats the hell out of me
Also, does anyone else think Drakeford looks like Paul McCartney? Sing us a song Drakey
I’d say more a combo of McCartney and a pig’s arse
I agree, if you leave out the McCartney bit.
More like a tortoise. I always think that.
But with less personality
Than McCartney, or a tortoise?
Whitty is the one who looks most like a tortoise!
Whitty is the image of Golum.
He’s more like one of those flightless birds – an emu or an ostrich. They have those bald bits on their heads with lots of little bristly bits. Shudder!
Which Paul McCartney are we talking about.. the real one or the fake one..
The droopey “I’m half asleep” eyelids.
What a muddle that we have two parish councils wielding such power to do this to the people of Wales and Scotland. Worst bit is the left will keep voting for them.
a little late to the party.
Prison is too good for Drakeford, unless perhaps he is put in the same cell with Sturge and Bozo.
Or his son perhaps?
All of the above. And a trans heavyweight boxer with an aggression problem.
I guess he does visit though
It’s about time these bastards were dragged onto the streets and given a damn good thrashing! I don’t care if you think violence isn’t the answer. Peaceful protests certainly aren’t. I hope he doesn’t feel safe walking the streets…
I think they certainly make a good case for the reintroduction of corporal punishment.
Don’t you mean capital?
Slavery would be better. And forced repentance every Sunday. In chains.
The comment I was responding to mentioned a damn good thrashing, but now that you bring it up…
He needs a horsewhipping – at least.
It must be difficult for the Welsh to accept health advice from someone who isn’t exactly an expression of it.
I assume that all doctors are, of course.
To me it now appears that this is more behavioral science that they’re applying as opposed to pressure for compliance. Gatherings, clubs, anywhere where one can socialise results in discussions, debate and importantly the realisation that what’s going in is all bullsht
Trying to deter a “preference cascade”
Denial is more than a river in Africa.
Yes, and we know its source.
Speaking of misinformation (AKA lying), Paul Joseph Watson has found out that it appears ‘John from London’ was telling porkie pies about ‘the first death from COVID-o:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUOWI5FfWjI
I wonder how many more of this sort of thing will emerge in the coming months? Hopefully a LOT.
I’m not aware of nay Member of the Senedd questioning his restrictions.
Maybe he was correct in that leaked video when eh said, “Oh shit! Let’s hope nobody is bright enough to ask.”
Based on the available evidence, I think it’s fair to say that Drakeford is definitely a lying asshole.
Yep they all are. He’s just stupid enough to be caught. We need more of this with the bigger cheeses
In a sane world he would now be forced to resign
In a sane world he would be on trial.
And on conviction sold into slavery. With all his family.
If it wasn’t for the fact that so many people are either retired, unemployed or work for the state, Drakeford would have ruined the Welsh economy.
As it is he’s only ruining the lives of the few that work in the private sector. I suppose he doesn’t have to worry about them.
At last, somebody having a go at the nasty, wrinkly, weaselly, abjectly poor copy of Stalin.
My Christmas has begun!
‘criticised’, he should really be arrested, he’s putting law abiding people under house arrest with lies
For any business that is affected, it is time to start suing the government for the damage they cause. And apart from that organizations such as taxpayers unions should start tagging all the involved individuals for criminal investigation.
Anyone in UK that owns a bar, cafe, restaurant etc should be giving life bans to any of the people responsible for this. I have seen one or two pubs doing this but I can’t believe more haven’t.
I live in Scotland and if I had one of these businesses I would have given a life ban to the at least the following:
Sturgeon
Swinney
Yousaf
The Dentist
Bauld
Sridhar
It would be great if nowhere in Scotland would let them in the door.
When the pandemic is over, Drakeford will take the ‘most miserable face/voice combination’ prize at the Covid Awards.
What pandemic.. I wasn’t aware there was one..
And the recent DS story about Scots gov imposing sanctions on buisnesses ….. because the gov was not sure what Omicron’s intentions might be.
On the subject of compensation for business: ‘How quaint. But you can’t reasonably expect gov to even think about compensation ….. when Omicron’s intentions are unknown.’
Gotta hand it to em.
I haven’t noticed anyone writing about what for me is the most obvious reason why Wales has imposed harsher (and stupider) restrictions on its citizens than England has. The Welsh NHS.
For years and years prior to “the Covid”, the health service in Wales was frequently reported as being calamitously bad, eg
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/health/welsh-nhs-cold-winter-flu-17224111.amp
So in the past 2 years it has been vital for the Welsh government to do anything and everything to keep people away from this wreck, even if it means locking them into their homes with armed guards outside.
Drakeford’s not naturally a dictator. It’s just that if the Welsh were given even the modest freedoms the English have had since the summer, there would be bodies piling up in the streets.
Who would have thought it, a politician lying about COVID. I’m finding it difficult to believe, not.
Harold Bishop…..you’re a cunt!
Three words:
Kick
Him
OUT.
Oh dearie me, Drakeford’s not a very good liar, is he? Thank God they have not had the practice and the brutal formation that that the CCP leaders have had, otherwise we’d be in worse trouble than we are already. Good to see someone like this speaking up. The wheels are coming off their wagon, slowly.
I’m not sure why, but Drakeford reminds me of Touche Turtle.
brilliant
There is an ivermectin panic on the big tech and MSM right now. Massive articles from MSM on Ivermectin trying to push a danger narrative and also negative press on Americans Frontline Dr’s, again, to keep the Covid narrative alive. Just go to the Goog and type ivermectin then look at all the panic news articles. We are over the target. Big-Pharma is panicking. This medicine has been widely used by humans without any problems for 40 years. It’s inventor won a Nobel Prize after 20 years of successful use and after 100 million people were cured of a broad spectrum of problems without any side effects. Get your Ivermectin while you still can! https://ivmpharmacy.com
Drakeford lying. No. It can’t be true. A politician telling lies. I’ve never heard of anything so surprising.
This mans mutterings are the very definition of insanity. God knows where his head is.
I feel sorry for the poor people of Wales who suffer in their malaise from the madness of his policies.
They appear more locked in than the English covidians are.
So Drakeford is a liar and a petty tyrant. So the measures he’s introduced in poor old Wales ( my sympathies to all Welsh readers) are unnecessary, over the top and Stalinist. What a surprise. That’s what he is, folks – a Stalinist, Jeremy Corbyn supporting dictator. So vote him out next time, before he buxxers up a perfectly good and viable country.
Looooooooooooooooks like fiddy kidler some dirt on him somebody may have.
Why should anyone want to take heed of the unhinged maunderings of the scientifically illiterate Daffy Duckford?
Where are those blinking fact checkers when you need em
Surprise, the Communist Drakeford tells lies!!