UK Concludes ‘Exercise Pegasus’ – The Largest Pandemic Simulation In Nearly A Decade

Ready for another pandemic? Well, that’s the idea behind Exercise Pegasus; the UK’s biggest pandemic simulation in nearly a decade and its first Tier 1 national emergency exercise since Covid-19.

The exercise is a direct response to recommendations from the UK’s COVID-19 Inquiry to test and improve national pandemic response plans, since the last one wasn’t exactly handled with greatest of competence by our leaders.

In Exercise Pegasus, which concluded this month, participants faced a fictional novel strain of enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) that originated on the made-up southeast Asian island of Musiyana after a food festival.

The virus is thought to originate from pigs and primarily kills infants, children and teenagers, causing respiratory failure, brain swelling and paralysis. Which sounds just a tad bit harsher than all the symptoms we were told to dread from COVID-19.

The three-phase drill kicked off in September with regional spread in Asia, progressed in October to a WHO-declared pandemic with schools shutting down, hospitals under strain, and street protests over social distancing, then moved into full national lockdown in November, with non-essential businesses closed, travel bans and fears of food shortages. Sound familiar?

Sir Peter Horby, Director of the Pandemic Sciences Institute at Oxford University said: “The choice of an enterovirus is a good choice because it is a real possibility with real risks but is different from what we have seen before.”

Well, that’s reassuring.

The exercise, which involved ministers, all devolved nations, COBRA activation and every major government department, followed Covid Inquiry findings that pre-COVID plans focused only on dealing with high death count rather than prevention, and that school closures “brought ordinary childhood to a halt”.

No word yet on what they actually learned from this all, but word is they will publish lessons from Exercise Pegasus in 2026. Not to worry though, if this pig flu did ever become a reality, I’m sure there’ll be a vaccine ready in no time to deal with it.

For the anti-vax folk singer who died after deliberately catching Covid so she could obtain a health pass, click HERE.

[h/t Disclose]