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Surgisphere: governments and WHO changed Covid-19 policy based on suspect data from tiny US company

Surgisphere, whose employees appear to include a sci-fi writer and adult content model, provided database behind Lancet and New England Journal of Medicine hydroxychloroquine studies The World Health Organization and a number of national governments have changed their Covid-19 policies and treatments on the basis of flawed data from a little-known US healthcare analytics company, also calling…

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Testing efforts led by ex-lobbyist who backed Hancock leadership bid

Lord Bethell, who gave money to Hancock’s failed campaign to be Tory leader, is understood to be ‘lead minister’ for testing The UK government’s urgent efforts to ramp up coronavirus testing are being led by a hereditary peer and former corporate lobbyist who gave money to health secretary Matt Hancock’s failed Conservative party leadership campaign.…

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NHS coronavirus app: memo discussed giving ministers power to ‘de-anonymise’ users

Exclusive: draft plans for contact-tracing app said device IDs could be used to identify users A draft government memo explaining how the NHS contact-tracing app could stem the spread of the coronavirus said ministers might be given the ability to order “de-anonymisation” to identify people from their smartphones, the Guardian can reveal. The health secretary, Matt Hancock, announced on…

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More from this series UK government using confidential patient data in coronavirus response

Exclusive: Documents seen by Guardian show tech firms using information to build ‘Covid-19 datastore’ Technology firms are processing large volumes of confidential UK patient information in a data-mining operation that is part of the government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak, according to documents seen by the Guardian. Palantir, the US big data firm founded by…

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Documents contradict UK government stance on Covid-19 ‘herd immunity’

List of possible interventions included simulating impact of allowing majority to be infected The inclusion of “targeted herd immunity” as a possible UK government response to the Covid-19 pandemic – in a list of possible interventions considered for analysis by a contractor – appears to contradict strong denials by the health secretary 10 days earlier…

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Revealed: value of UK pandemic stockpile fell by 40% in six years

£325m wiped off value of health department’s emergency stockpile including PPE UK government stockpiles containing protective equipment for healthcare workers in the event of a pandemic fell in value by almost 40% over the past six years, the Guardian has found. Analysis of official financial data suggests £325m was wiped off the value of the…

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