Review of The Stealthy Viral Pimpernel

[Dharmendra Bonomaully]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Stealthy Viral Pimpernel" by Bernard Heys.]

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4 out of 5 stars

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The Stealthy Viral Pimpernel is a book about the failure of the British government to tackle the Covid 19 pandemic in a timely and professional manner. It is also a tribute to all those who worked to their limits to stop the spread of the virus including all those who lost their lives in doing so. The Covid 19 has marked all of us for life. This will always remain in our memories in the years to come. The book is about the pandemic that suddenly appeared in Huan, China in late 2019 and then rapidly spread throughout the world. It is also a failure of the government to act proactively, and also not to have learnt anything from the past pandemics. According to the contents of the book, what is regrettable is though the government was warned of not doing enough for the NHC and research on viruses, they failed to address this issue in a timely manner. Some clear examples are the lack of PPE for medical personnel and deep research on viruses. With valid proofs and evidence to support the arguments the book is a terrible account of the government failure to protect the British people, though they had all the expertise and resources at hand.

The author of the book, Bernard Heys, who is the owner of Radcliff Lade, and a former Engineer by profession, has a rich career which expands nearly 56 years. He was actively involved in the preventions and control of infections. He also worked in the field of aerospace research programs which dealt with the prevention of terrestrial viruses polluting the Cosmos, the key role of environmental conditions, critical impact of air movement dynamics and air conditioning on the spread of infections. Bernard Heys suffers from renal disease and as such is on constant dialysis. He is the person behind the classification of renal failures as a life-threatening disease. According to the author we were all deliberately put on risks when funding for research on infectious diseases was cut in early 2000. The government of that time thought that we were no more at risk from virulent diseases. A terrible mistake.

What I particularly liked about the book is that the author has put much effort in sustaining all his claims with valid proofs. The statistics and correspondences are very damning to the government at that time. He also criticizes government’s initiative not to join the combined European procurement initiative that led to the lack of PPE for NHS personnel. Many of them lost their lives working under these conditions. When you go through the book all these bad memories of the pandemic just surface again. You feel the suffering of the people who were really helpless at that time. You totally agree with the author that much more could have been done to protect the British people and many lives could have been saved. The chronology of events is also well documented by the author. Particularly the reactions of the government as the virus spread throughout the country. He also gives exact details how the government failed to take urgent actions to tackle the virus at the outset. There is also the failure to listen to the researchers which lead to an increase to the number of fatalities. All the evidence that Bernard Heys put forward are also very damning to the government at that time, particularly Boris Johnson who was the then Prime Minister. He and his cabinet are highly criticized for the way they handled the Pandemic throughout the book.

The book may not please people who not familiar with terms like Value Added chain and Quality Management Approach as an example. Though the Pandemic was a global issue the book may not appeal to those not interested in politics. The use of complex sentences in many places, particularly pages 34,63, 68 make the text quite difficult to understand at times.

I want to rate the Stealthy Viral Pimpernel by Bernard Heys 4 out of 5. There are some errors of editing in some places that affect the clarity and understanding of the book.

I recommend this book to all those seeking to know more about Covid 19 Pandemic. It is also about how the British government and the people could better prepare themselves to face another pandemic in the future.

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The Stealthy Viral Pimpernel
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[theradcliffelad]

The review is a faithful commentary on the key purpose of the book. The caveats have been addressed and corrected. My rush to get published with the aim of saving lives. Much of the content also refger to global failuires on prevention strategies. Bernard Heys