The United Kingdom is currently investigating the nation's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. The official inquiry has already concluded that the nation experienced a "widespread failure" in its response to the spread of the virus.
Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson has faced a significant amount of criticism for his role in the handling of the pandemic. Among the accusations are several from Dominic Cummings, Johnson's former chief advisor who was fired in 2020, as reported by Politico.
Cummings has compiled a 115-page report for the official inquiry, detailing various criticisms of Johnson's actions during the pandemic.
In his report, Cummings describes a peculiar question that Johnson allegedly asked the UK's leading virus researchers. According to Cummings, Johnson wondered if the virus could be eliminated by blowing a hairdryer directly into one's nose.
"There was a video circulating of a guy blowing a special hairdryer into his nose to kill covid," Cummings wrote in his report. He claims that Johnson sent the video to the UK's top advisors and officials via WhatsApp. The video has since been removed from YouTube, where it was originally published.
The inquiry will continue until the summer of 2026. As part of the investigation, many excerpts from WhatsApp messages have been examined. These messages, frequently used by British government officials, reveal that in March 2020, Johnson did not believe COVID-19 was a "big deal" and was more concerned about the potential economic downturn.
"He (Johnson) doesn't think it's a big deal and doesn't believe anything can be done, and his focus is elsewhere. He thinks it will be like the swine flu," reads a message reportedly sent by the UK's then-press chief Lee Cain, as reported by the Financial Times.
Since the spring of 2020, over 230,000 people in the UK have died with COVID-19, and nearly 25 million cases have been confirmed. According to several statistical services, the UK is the second-worst affected country in Europe, after Russia.
