Professor Sunetra Gupta interview: There’s not enough diversity of opinion on Sage

This week, the government has come under criticism from a number of its scientific advisers for easing the lockdown too quickly. Meanwhile, both chief medical officer Chris Whitty and chief scientific officer Patrick Vallance have emphasised the need to move cautiously at this point in the lockdown easing. However, not every scientist takes this view. On the latest Women with Balls podcast, I’m joined by professor Sunetra Gupta to discuss her career – and her assessment of coronavirus.

The professor of theoretical epidemiology at the University of Oxford is the lead scientist behind the Oxford study, which in March that offered an alternative view to Imperial College’s dire coronavirus predictions. It suggested that the virus could have infected as much as half of the UK’s population. She tells me that in her view – and from the data currently available – is that ‘it’s definitely nowhere near as lethal as the Imperial College model suggests’ and there’s a good chance it’s on its way out.