The UK faced an "absolutely catastrophic situation" as it headed towards the first Covid lockdown, England's chief medical officer has said, as he defended the fact not all patients with other illnesses could get NHS care.Professor Sir Chris Whitty told the Covid inquiry in central London there were concerns things could get "substantially worse", even at the point when the NHS was not functioning as well as it should.

The UK faced an "absolutely catastrophic situation" as it headed towards the first Covid lockdown, England's chief medical officer has said, as he defended the fact not all patients with other illnesses could get NHS care.Professor Sir Chris Whitty told the Covid inquiry in central London there were concerns things could get "substantially worse", even at the point when the NHS was not functioning as well as it should.