Spain’s general medical council calls for Covid health chief to be fired

Spain’s general medical council has called for the country’s health emergencies chief to be sacked, accusing him of “patent and prolonged incompetence” in his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and of undermining the morale of overworked doctors.

Fernando Simón, the head of Spain’s coordination centre for health emergencies and alerts, has been the public face of the government’s response to the coronavirus since March.

The 57-year-old epidemiologist, who has worked in Africa and Latin America, has won plaudits for his down-to-earth briefing style, but has also attracted controversy.