Patel denies govt planned to build Covid ‘herd immunity’ Top Story May 24, 2021 LONDON: Home Secretary Priti Patel has denied a claim by Dominic Cummings that the government’s original response to the coronavirus outbreak was to pursue a strategy of “herd immunity”. In a series of explosive tweets, the Prime Minister’s former top adviser said the policy – to build up resistance in the population by allowing some spread of the disease – was only dropped in March last year after a warning it would lead to a “catastrophe”. Cummings, who is due to give evidence this week to MPs investigating the government’s response to the pandemic, said there may have been no need for any lockdowns if the country had had the “right preparations and competent people in charge”.