(RepublicanPeak.com)- When the pandemic first hit three years ago, UK ministers briefly considered having all domestic cats in Great Britain killed over fears that the pets could be transmitting the virus, according to a former health minister.
In an interview with Channel 4 News, former health minister Lord Bethell said that so little was known about the virus early on, including whether domestic pets could spread the virus.
Lord Bethell, who was a deputy in the Department of Health and Social during the pandemic, said one of the suggestions made was to ask the public to “exterminate all cats” in the UK. Naturally, the ministers did not follow through on the suggestion.
Bethell’s admission came after the UK Telegraph reported on the over one hundred thousand leaked messages between then-Health Secretary Matt Hancock and other senior government officials during the pandemic.
According to the UK Telegraph, it obtained the WhatsApp messages from journalist Isabel Oakeshott. Oakeshott, who was an outspoken opponent of pandemic lockdowns, said she leaked the messages to prevent a “whitewash” of the government’s pandemic response.
The WhatsApp messages revealed that Hancock ignored advice to test every person entering senior care homes. However, Hancock claimed that the leaked messages had been selectively edited to give a “distorted account.”
In a statement last week, Hancock’s spokesman said the former Health Secretary wanted everyone entering care homes tested but since the UK lacked the capacity to do so, the priority was given to people discharged from the hospital into care homes.
In a recent interview with the BBC, James Bethell defended his former boss, explaining that in the early months of the pandemic, there was a “very, very limited number” of coronavirus test kits available.
Matt Hanock resigned from his post in June 2021 after he violated social distancing rules when he was caught kissing an aide with whom he was having an affair.
