The inquiry’s first report found the country was ill-prepared for dealing with the whole-system civil emergency of a pandemic let alone COVID itself.
Britain’s government was ill-prepared for COVID-19 and serious errors in planning failed its citizens, an inquiry into its handling of the pandemic said on Thursday.
Retired judge Heather Hallett, who is leading the ongoing inquiry, said the UK government wrongly believed in 2019 that it was one of the best-prepared countries in the world for an outbreak and it anticipated the wrong pandemic – influenza.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been blamed for more than 235,000 deaths in the UK through the end of 2023 – one of the highest death tolls in the world.
“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,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, referring to England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
“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,” he said.
There were fatal strategic flaws underpinning the assessment of the risks faced by the UK, how those risks and their consequences could be managed and prevented from worsening, and how the state should respond,” Hallett said.
There also was a lack of focus on what was needed to deal with a rapidly transmissible disease, and not enough done to build up a system to test, trace, and isolate infected patients.
Hallett said in her 217-page report that the UK needs to be better prepared for the next pandemic – one that could be even deadlier.
“The UK will again face a pandemic that, unless we are better prepared, will bring with it immense suffering and huge financial cost and the most vulnerable in society will suffer the most,” she said.
“Never again can a disease be allowed to lead to so many deaths and so much suffering”.
Elkan Abrahamson, who represents the nearly 7,000 members of the COVID-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, applauded Hallett for adopting most of its recommendations to prevent a repeat disaster.
“However, it is extremely disappointing that the vulnerable were ignored in the recommendations and there were no proposals for dealing with racial inequality, health inequalities or the effects of austerity,” Abrahamson said.