Summary

  • Significant flaws in UK pandemic preparations meant Covid caused more deaths and economic damage than it should have, the Covid inquiry’s first report says

  • The UK government and devolved nations “failed their citizens” as they planned for the wrong pandemic, the damning report says

  • The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group welcomes the report but says it doesn't go far enough on dealing with inequality

  • PM Keir Starmer says his government is committed to learning lessons from the inquiry and putting better protective measures in place

  • Almost 227,000 people died in the UK from Covid between March 2020 and May 2023, when the World Health Organization declared the end of the "global health emergency"

'We prepared for the wrong pandemic' - watch the Covid inquiry chair's summary in 66 seconds

Live Reporting

Edited by James Gregory

  1. Analysis

    Report could highlight the impact of Brexit on pandemic

    Jim Reed
    Health reporter

    From 2018, civil servants were being asked to step up planning for a "no-deal Brexit", under the codename Operation Yellowhammer.

    As a result, documents showed almost 20 different 'workstreams’ in the Department of Health relating to pandemic planning were either slowed, paused or stopped completely. That included plans to better prepare the care home sector for a severe influenza pandemic.

    The Pandemic Flu Readiness Board, a body made up of officials from across Whitehall, did not meet for a whole year up to November 2019, because their work was "reprioritised" to plan for leaving the EU without a deal.

    Scotland's former first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said she was "not at all happy" about having to divert"time, energy and resources" in this way.

    But ex-cabinet minister Michael Gove said that Brexit planning had increased staffing and forced departments to work more closely together. And former Health Secretary Matt Hancock claimed the same work secured medical supply chains and prevented hospitals running out of some intensive care drugs.

  2. What happened in the first round of the inquiry?

    Former Health Secretary Matt Hancock leaves the Covid-19 inquiry in June 2023 (Reuters

    Former health secretary Matt Hancock gave evidence in June 2023

    Today’s report is based on the inquiry’s first stage, which looked at "resilience and preparedness" for a pandemic.

    It took evidence from 69 experts, government officials and ministers over six weeks last summer.

    Among them were former Prime Minister David Cameron who told the inquiry it was a “mistake” not to consider different types of diseases when preparing for future pandemics (much of the focus was a on flu-style pandemic, the inquiry was told).

    Former health secretaries Jeremy Hunt and Matt Hancock, and former first minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon also gave evidence.

    Hancock said the UK’s pandemic planning was “completely wrong” before Covid hit and that he was “profoundly sorry” for every death.

    • Analysis

      Expect this report to be damning

      Nick Triggle
      Health correspondent

      This is the first of at least nine reports from the UK Covid inquiry. It covers pandemic preparedness and resilience. Other modules look at political decision-making, vaccines, test and trace, and children and young people.

      It is widely expected it will be critical of the government’s planning.

      During the evidence sessions, witnesses were damning of the approach taken. The UK government based its planning on a flu pandemic - and took what some said was a fatalistic approach that its spread could not be stopped.

      But Asian nations such as Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea, who all had experienced other coronavirus outbreaks - Sars and Mers, had much more proactive test-and-trace procedures ready to go.

      Why didn’t the UK?

      After all, a government exercise in 2016 looked at this very issue - but its recommendations were not, on the whole, implemented.

      During the hearings for this module, held in the first part of 2023, witnesses spoke about the impact of planning for Brexit (distracting the civil service) and austerity (weakening the resilience of the NHS and public health systems). Expect these and other issues to feature in the report when it is published in just over an hour.

    • What's the Covid inquiry? A quick reminder

      People view messages written on the National Covid Memorial Wall as the UK COVID-19 Inquiry starts to hear evidence, in London, Britain, June 14, 2023Reuters

      The National Covid Memorial Wall in London

      The Covid-19 inquiry was launched in June 2022 by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson amid criticism about his government’s response to the pandemic.

      It was set up to investigate decision-making by the UK government and in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland before and during the pandemic.

      There's no timescale for how long the inquiry will last - but hearings are scheduled until at least 2025.

      So far, the inquiry has heard evidence from several former prime ministers, cabinet ministers, government advisers and public health experts. Johnson himself told the inquiry there were “unquestionably things we should have done differently”.

      The inquiry has also requested access to government communications, including WhatsApp messages – many of which had controversially already been deleted before they could be handed over.

    • First Covid inquiry report to show failures in pandemic planning

      Dulcie Lee
      Live page editor

      Failures and weaknesses in the UK's pandemic preparations are expected to be laid out at midday, as the first report from the Covid inquiry is published.

      Welcome to our live coverage.

      Our health correspondents are currently poring over the report at a media lock-in in central London - that's where journalists have time to study the report before it's published (but must hand in their phones to stop any leaks).

      They’re analysing the contents and will bring you the key findings at midday.

      The chair of the inquiry, Baroness Hallett, will then deliver her recommendations live - you'll be able to follow it all right here.