UK appoints counter-terrorism official to lead biosecurity centre

Tom Hurd, a senior Home Office counter-terrorism official who was at Eton and Oxford with prime minister Boris Johnson, will lead the UK’s newly-established biosecurity centre; Hurd remains a candidate to take over as the next director general of MI6 later in 2020. Hurd, who has worked as a diplomat at the UN and in security, has no obvious scientific background. Independent experts believe the emphasis on security is misplaced, and that monitoring the status of coronavirus via local and regional public health systems is a better investment.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/12/former-counter-terror-official-tom-hurd-put-in-charge-new-uk-biosecurity-centre-coronavirus

Writer: Dan Sabbagh and Ian Sample
Publication: Guardian