Significant deficiencies in the UK’s pandemic management planning resulted in more deaths and higher economic costs from Covid than necessary, according to the first report from the Covid Inquiry. The 217-page report urges substantial reforms, stating that both the UK government and devolved nations “failed their citizens.”
The report asserts that the UK prepared for the wrong type of pandemic management—a mild one with inevitable virus spread—which led to reliance on “untested” lockdowns. Contributing factors included groupthink among scientists and insufficient ministerial challenge. Additionally, the UK’s lack of resilience, high rates of ill-health, and overstretched public services were highlighted as issues.
By the end of 2023, 235,000 people had died from Covid. This report is the first of at least nine that will cover various aspects from political decision-making to vaccines. Inquiry chair Baroness Hallett stated the UK was “ill-prepared for management with a catastrophic emergency, let alone the coronavirus pandemic,” adding that “never again can a disease be allowed to lead to so many deaths and so much suffering.”
Recommendations from the report include:
– Transferring pandemic planning responsibility from the Department of Health and Social Care.
– Establishing a ministerial-level body in each nation responsible for all types of civil emergencies.
– Creating an independent body to advise on civil emergencies and assess preparedness and resilience, incorporating both socio-economic and scientific expertise.
– Conducting three-yearly pandemic response exercises to stress-test existing plans.
Baroness Hallett urged swift implementation of these recommendations, aiming for many to be in place within six months to a year. She emphasized that another pandemic is not a question of if but when.
Families of Covid victims welcomed the report. Prof Naomi Fulop, spokesperson for the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group, praised the report as “hard-hitting and clear-sighted,” and called for the government to adopt its recommendations. She also highlighted the need to address societal inequalities and the state of public services, which hindered the UK’s response.
Kazeema Afzal, who lost her sister Areema Nasreen, one of the youngest NHS workers to die from Covid, expressed that healthcare workers were unprepared and that both families and NHS workers were failed.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer extended his sympathies to those who lost loved ones and acknowledged that the UK was under-prepared. He affirmed the government’s commitment to learning from these lessons and enhancing measures to protect and prepare the country.
The report contrasted the UK’s approach with East Asian countries, which had learned from previous coronavirus outbreaks like SARS and MERS. These countries implemented rapid test-and-trace systems and established quarantine processes, significantly slowing Covid’s spread and reducing the need for lockdowns.
The UK’s pandemic strategy, based on the 2011 swine flu outbreak, underestimated the severity of future pandemics. The report called for readiness to scale up test-and-trace systems and increase NHS capacity, along with plans to protect the most vulnerable.
Blame was partly placed on groupthink in planning, with scientific advice too narrowly focused and insufficient consideration of socio-economic impacts. The report recommended creating an independent body to include diverse expertise, ensuring broader perspectives in future planning.
