LONDON – Britain’s government on Saturday defended the independence of the scientists advising it on the coronavirus after it emerged that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s controversial chief aide had attended meetings of the group.
Criticism of Johnson’s Conservative government mounted as the U.K. became the fifth country in the world to report 20,000 virus-related deaths and counting.
The government said Saturday that 20,319 people with COVID-19 have died in British hospitals, an increase of 813 from the death toll reported the day before.
The figure does not include d eaths in nursing homes, which are likely to number in the thousands. Scientists say the U.K. has reached the peak of the pandemic but is not yet out of danger.