Senior North East health figures have slammed the Government's plans to ditch self-isolation requirements for those with Covid-19 and to get rid of free testing - and said it amounts to a "giant experiment aimed at the poorer in society".
In Newcastle, Coun John-Paul Stephenson - the city council 's cabinet member with responsibility for public health called the Prime Minister a "muppet" and said the "disastrous changes will prove to be one of the biggest scandals of health inequalities of our generation".
Dr Paul Evans, chair of the Gateshead and South Tyneside Local Medical Committee (LMC) and a GP at the Bridges Medical Practice in Gateshead, echoed this, saying he had "grave concerns" about the position people in his community will be put in, and he said he feared for the impact on those who are clinically extremely vulnerable.
