A demonstrator holds a placard outside the UK COVID-19 inquiry, in London, Britain, December 11, 2023.
Credit: Reuters File Photo
London: The British public was failed by the government’s planning and processes when the Covid pandemic hit the country in early 2020, a damning independent public inquiry concluded on Thursday and called for “radical reform” for future civil emergencies.
In the first of nine reports to be published by the ‘UK Covid-10 Inquiry,’ chair Baroness Heather Hallett said the government prepared for the “wrong pandemic” and called for “radical reform” of the state of the UK's structures and procedures to prepare for future civil emergencies.
The UK officially recorded more than 2,35,000 deaths involving Covid-19 up to the end of 2023 and the inquiry report finds that some of that “human cost” may have been avoided had the country been better prepared for the deadly outbreak.
“Never again can a disease be allowed to lead to so many deaths and so much suffering,” said Hallett.
“I have no hesitation in concluding the processes, planning and policy of the civil contingency structures across the UK failed the citizens of all four nations. There were serious errors on the part of the state and serious flaws in our emergency systems. This cannot be allowed to happen again,” she said.
Key recommendations include a radical simplification of systems, holding a UK-wide pandemic response exercise at least every three years and the creation of a single, independent statutory body responsible for the preparedness and response of the whole system.
The public inquiry was launched in June 2022 by then-Conservative prime minister Boris Johnson, who was in office at the time of the pandemic and was also hospitalised after testing positive in the early weeks of April 2020.
“Today's report confirms what many have always believed – that the UK was under-prepared for Covid-19, and that process, planning and policy across all four nations failed UK citizens,” said British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who leads a new Labour Party government.
“The safety and security of the country should always be the first priority, and this government is committed to learning the lessons from the Inquiry and putting better measures in place to protect and prepare us from the impact of any future pandemic,” Starmer said.
The inquiry received 1,03,000 documents, 213 witness statements and heard from 68 witnesses for the first module in June and July last year, with hearings for later phases expected to continue until 2026.
The first report states the UK “lacked resilience” in 2020 and was “ill-prepared for dealing with a catastrophic emergency, let alone the COVID-19 pandemic that actually struck.” A slowdown in health improvement, widening health inequalities and high pre-existing levels of long-term illnesses, such as heart disease, diabetes and obesity, made the country “more vulnerable,” while public services were “running close to, if not beyond capacity,” it noted.
“The inquiry has no hesitation in concluding that the processes, planning and policy of the civil contingency structures within the UK government and devolved administrations and civil services failed their citizens,” the report stated.