Covid inquiry latest: UK’s pandemic response ‘too little, too late’, says inquiry chair

Covid deaths in Wales have been made worse by failed or late-imposed restrictions, a public inquiry has found.

Baroness Heather Hallett’s report into the response to Covid-19 found that all four UK governments failed to appreciate the level of risk the UK faced when the pandemic hit.

The report highlights that although it was reported on 5 October 2020 that further restrictions were needed, the Welsh government did not implement a two-week “firebreak” until 23 October.

From August to December 2020, Wales had the highest age-standardized death rate of the four countries.

Lady Hallett suggested that failed local restrictions, a fire suppression system implemented too late and the decision to relax measures too quickly contributed to these deaths.

A number of Welsh Government witnesses, including former first minister Mark Drakeford, told the inquiry that funding from the UK government influenced the Welsh government’s decisions about the timing and length of firefighting.

The report rejected this justification and noted that Mr Drakeford had not merely raised the question of additional economic support for the lockdown in Wales.

He also told the inquiry that he initially believed the UK government would be responsible for the country’s response to the pandemic.

However, “This did not mean that the Welsh Government should not have recognized the seriousness of the situation in January and February 2020 and taken its own steps to prepare for the arrival of Covid-19 in Wales,” the report said.

The report renewed calls for a Wales-specific investigation into the Welsh government’s response.

Families who lost loved ones during the Covid-19 pandemic have highlighted the “unprecedented, preventable scale of loss of life” after an official inquiry published its report into political decision-making during the crisis.

The second report of the UK Covid-19 Public Inquiry reveals how lives could have been saved and lockdowns avoided had different decisions been made.

Following the report’s publication, the UK’s Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice campaign group criticized former prime minister Boris Johnson’s actions during the pandemic.

The statement said: “The evidence from the inquiry is clear and while it is justified to see Boris Johnson held accountable in black and white for the disastrous mismanagement of the pandemic, it is devastating to think of the lives that could have been saved under a different prime minister.

“We now know that without the leadership of Boris Johnson and his colleagues, many of our family members would still be alive today.

“As the report reveals, the government’s approach to the pandemic was undermined from the start; if Johnson had listened to scientific advice and quarantined even a week earlier, around 23,000 people could have been saved.

“Instead, throughout the pandemic Boris Johnson has put his political reputation ahead of public safety.

“He pandered to his critics when the UK needed decisive action. He delayed lockdowns, making them longer, more damaging to the economy and less effective.

“He ignored scientific advice that did not suit his agenda and ignored the frontline impact of his decisions by repeating the mistakes of the first wave and prolonging the second wave.

“To err is human. Refusing to listen to frontline workers, vulnerable people, empowered leaders or scientific experts is inexcusable.

“The same arrogance that led those at the heart of government to form parties while many of us were dying and suffering alone has also shaped the government’s approach to the pandemic, leading to loss of life on an unprecedented, preventable scale.”

The statement states: “While we could have extra years, days and hours to spend with our loved ones, as we contemplate and mourn what could have been, we also need to consider how we, as a public, became so vulnerable.

“We cannot hope to have better leaders in the future; the government must immediately implement the measures recommended by the inquiry, otherwise we are no longer as safe now as we were in the darkest days in living history.”

Boris Johnson and his chief adviser presided over a “toxic and chaotic culture” in Downing Street that undermined efforts to tackle the pandemic, the Covid Inquiry has found.

Baroness Heather Hallett’s report into the Covid-19 response criticized Mr Johnson’s over-optimism in the face of the looming pandemic and his “wobble” on key lockdown decisions.

And he condemned his chief adviser Dominic Cummings as a “destabilizing influence” who used “offensive, sexualized and misogynistic” language and was “poisoning” the atmosphere in Downing Street.

Here’s a look at the events that took place and what Mr Johnson said: commons About them while he was Prime Minister:

Extraordinary messages between the likes of Dominic Cummings, Lee Cain and Simon Case reveal strong unrest among Mr Johnson’s advisers; Mr Case, the cabinet secretary and senior civil servant, says at one point: “I’m at the end of my rope.”

The former Prime Minister’s senior officials also branded him “weak and indecisive” and referred to him as a “tram”. Meanwhile, chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said Mr Johnson was “all over the place” and “completely incoherent”.

Baroness Heather Hallett said governments in the UK had no choice but to lock down in March 2020, but lives would have been saved if they had acted sooner.

“But due to their own actions and omissions they had no choice,” the UK Head of Covid-19 Research said.

“Also, failure to quarantine earlier could cost lives.

“Had the lockdown been implemented a week before 23 March, evidence suggests that the number of deaths in the first wave would have fallen by 48% by 1 July 2020 in England alone.

“That means about 23,000 fewer deaths.”

A politically divided Stormont executive led to “chaotic decision-making” during the Covid-19 pandemic, a public inquiry has concluded.

Baroness Heather Hallett’s report into the government’s response to Covid found that the political response to the public health emergency in Northern Ireland was “deeply divided along political lines and beset by leaks, leading to an inconsistent approach”.

The report said then-Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill’s attendance at veteran republican Bobby Storey’s funeral in Belfast in June 2020 and her initial refusal to apologize “contributed to tensions within the Northern Ireland Executive Committee”.

As a result of various errors of judgment and incompetence displayed by all leaders involved, thousands of lives were needlessly lost; 23,000 in England alone. Additionally – although the head of the Covid inquiry did not emphasize this – countless people have endured the prolonged suffering brought on by long Covid.

This is, as widely expected, a damning report. Anyone who lived through these turbulent and terrifying times will remember the growing sense that the then prime minister, his chief advisor, the health minister and others were unable to control events.