The UK failed to plan effectively for a pandemic, the first report by the Covid-19 Inquiry is expected to conclude.
The inquiry, which publishes its report on Thursday, reviewed how prepared the country was to face a deadly outbreak before 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic swept around the world.
Former prime minister Lord Cameron admitted during the hearings that it was a “mistake” for his government to focus too heavily on preparations for combating an influenza wave rather than a coronavirus-like pandemic.
But he defended cuts to public services under his leadership, which doctors and unions have blamed for leaving the NHS in a “parlous state”.
Matt Hancock, who was health secretary under Boris Johnson during the pandemic, said it was a “colossal” failure to assume the spread of the virus could not be stopped.
His predecessor in the job, Jeremy Hunt, admitted to being part of “groupthink”, leading to a “narrowness of thinking”.
As well as highlighting blunders made in the run-up to the pandemic, inquiry chair Baroness Heather Hallett is expected to make recommendations about how the UK can better prepare itself for a future outbreak.
Key Points
- UK Covid inquiry to finally lay bare failures of government and politicians during pandemic
- ‘Failures to prepare’ come under spotlight
- Everything you need to know about the inquiry
- Matt Hancock ‘wanted to decide who should live or die if NHS was overwhelmed’
- More investigations to come
UK Covid inquiry to finally lay bare failures of government and politicians during pandemic
08:40
Tara Cobham
The UK government’s failures to properly prepare for a pandemic are expected to be laid bare on Thursday as the UK Covid-19 Inquiry publishes its first report.
Inquiry chair Baroness Heather Hallett will report on how well the UK was able to face a deadly outbreak in the run-up to 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic swept across Britain.
The report is expected to highlight the UK’s focus on preparing for a flu pandemic instead of a coronavirus pandemic.
Here’s the full story:
Doctors issue summer warning as new Covid variant spreading across UK
07:00
Jane Dalton
New variants of Covid have started to spread across the UK, prompting doctors to warn people to beware catching the new strains:
Top scientist said government made same Covid mistake three times
06:00
Jane Dalton
Boris Johnson’s government repeatedly made the same mistake of “watching and waiting” before taking action in the face of soaring infections, the UK’s chief scientific adviser told the Covid inquiry in November:
Infections and deaths rise slightly this summer compared with spring
05:00
Jane Dalton
Many people seem to either have or know someone with Covid again. As reports of Covid infections rise, here are the latest official figures from the UK Health Security Agency:
Opinion: Inquiry descended into TV game show
04:00
Jane Dalton
In December last year, Matt Hancock’s being forced to deny he was a liar was the highlight of an undignified circus, wrote John Rentoul:
What the nine modules are covering
03:00
Jane Dalton
The first inquiry module, called Resilience and Preparedness, focused on planning for a pandemic.
The second focused on core UK decision-making and political governance.
The third looks at the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on healthcare systems in the four nations of the UK.
Others are examining vaccines and therapeutics; procurement; the care sector and the “test, trace and isolate” strategy.
Modules announced but not yet opened will cover children and young people; and the economic response.
Watch: Covid victims remembered at memorial wall ceremony
02:00
Jane Dalton
Expert calls for counterterrorism-style planning to plan for next disease
01:00
Jane Dalton
One leading expert says officials should prepare for future pandemic threats with counterterrorism-style approaches.
Professor Liam Smeeth, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: “The key lesson from the first UK Covid Inquiry report is that if the UK waits for the next pandemic to emerge, it will be too late.
“The fight against pandemics is like counterterrorism: we must use similar approaches such as gathering and sharing the best intelligence on global disease threats and joining forces to confront outbreaks before they become pandemics.
“Like terrorists, lethal viruses take no notice of national borders and can strike anywhere at any time.
“We have to work with global partners to combat this global threat: this means not just improving our planning, surveillance, and ability to respond in the UK, but supporting those on the front line fighting outbreaks around the world.”
Academics have said it is a question of “when not if” another pandemic will hit, so it is hoped that recommendations, if implemented, could put the UK in a better starting place to face a new and unknown disease – known by many as Disease X.
Advice could save lives in future, say campaigners
Thursday 18 July 2024 00:01
Jane Dalton
Campaigners for people who lost loved ones in the pandemic said the inquiry’s recommendations have the potential to save lives in the future.
Brenda Doherty, on behalf of Covid 19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK, said: “The publication of the module one report marks a huge milestone for bereaved families like mine.
“We know that for lives to be saved in the future, lessons must be learnt from the mistakes of the past.
“Sadly, nobody knows the true cost of the government’s failure to prepare as we do.
“From campaigning to bring about an inquiry to hearing revelation after revelation regarding the ways in which our loved ones were failed, the years leading up to today have been draining.
“We know, however, that the inquiry’s recommendations have the potential to save lives in the future, if lessons have been learnt from the loss of our loved ones.”
Government accused of ‘eye-watering waste’ for burning unused PPE in China
Wednesday 17 July 2024 23:25
Jane Dalton
In opposition, Labour criticised the “eye-watering waste” of burning half a billion pieces of unused Covid protective gear in China:
Boris Johnson admitted ‘no consideration’ of testing patients moving to care homes
Wednesday 17 July 2024 22:40
Jane Dalton
The testimony of ex-PM Boris Johnson to the second module of the inquiry, about core decision-making, was long awaited. These are the highlights of his evidence:
More investigations to come
Wednesday 17 July 2024 21:55
Jane Dalton
The first module of the public inquiry, which began on 13 June last year, examined whether “the pandemic was properly planned for and whether the UK was adequately ready for that eventuality”.
Its findings and recommendations will be published at noon on Thursday, when inquiry chairwoman Baroness Hallett will make a statement.
So far, eight investigations are under way.
The ninth module will examine the economic response to the pandemic, which is likely to examine the actions of Rishi Sunak, who was chancellor at the time.
Hancock ‘wanted to decide who should live or die if NHS was overwhelmed’
Wednesday 17 July 2024 21:20
Jane Dalton
From one of our live blogs last year: Matt Hancock, when he was health secretary, believed that he – rather than doctors or the public – should decide “who should live and who should die” if hospitals became overwhelmed with Covid patients, a former NHS chief executive said:
Everything you need to know about the inquiry
Wednesday 17 July 2024 20:40
Jane Dalton
By poring over hundreds of documents, scrutinising the details and hearing testimony on all aspects of the UK’s response to a global disaster that claimed more than 227,000 British lives, the inquiry hopes to draw clear conclusions and perhaps provide a degree of closure for those traumatised or in mourning:
‘Failures to prepare’ under the spotlight
Wednesday 17 July 2024 20:16
Jane Dalton
“Failures to properly prepare” for a pandemic in the UK are expected to come under the spotlight on Thursday as the UK Covid-19 Inquiry publishes its first report.
Inquiry chair Baroness Heather Hallett will report on how well the UK was able to face a deadly outbreak in the run up to 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic swept across Britain.
The report is expected to highlight the UK’s focus on preparing for a flu pandemic instead of a coronavirus pandemic.
Lady Hallett may highlight how austerity measures led to public health cutbacks.
She could potentially also comment on preparations surrounding personal protective equipment (PPE) and a government focused on Brexit.
