We’re about to close our live coverage of the start of the third phase of the Covid-19 inquiry, which is examining the pandemic's impact on patients, healthcare workers and the wider NHS.

Here's a recap of what we've heard today:

• The module began with a 10-minute impact video, which showed doctors, paramedics and pharmacists describing how they had "no support at all" at the start of the outbreak
• The video also featured poet and broadcaster Michael Rosen, who recounted that he had a 50-50 chance of survival in intensive care when he was infected with Covid
• The inquiry heard that many people died alone, and there was a lack of scientific consensus over how Covid infections were spread
• Jacqueline Carey KC, counsel to the inquiry, said hip replacement surgeries and diagnoses of health issues such as colorectal cancer were delayed during the pandemic
• Some women were alone when they received "devastating news" about their pregnancies, Casey said

• Peter Wilcock KC, representing the Northern Ireland bereaved families group, said there are "distinct differences" in the health services of the four nations and urged the inquiry to learn from the past

• Leslie Thomas KC, representing the Federation of Ethnic Minority Healthcare Organisations, said there's evidence showing the pandemic's disproportionate affect on minorities

The inquiry will resume at 10:00 BST tomorrow. Thank you for joining us.

Image source, Covid Inquiry

Leslie Thomas KC, on behalf of the Federation of Ethnic Minority Healthcare Organisations (FEMHO), referred to the impact video that was shown earlier, where a doctor said that we just have to accept discrimination in healthcare, to which he replied, "we don't have to accept it. Why?"

"This is a pivotal moment", Thomas said, as the inquiry will hear from diverse voices and that it is a chance to "confront deep-rooted injustices".

He said it is evident that minorities were "disproportionately affected" by the pandemic, and that it exposed "systemic racism", which he said also existed before the pandemic.

He concluded by calling on the inquiry to promote diverse leadership for a more equitable healthcare system.

A short time ago the inquiry heard from Roger Pezzani, who represents Mind, a mental health charity.

He says the pandemic has significantly impacted those struggling with mental health. Citing a study, he says that people with serious or severe mental illnesses were almost five times more likely to die during the pandemic than those without.

Mind offers six recommendations to the government:

• Plan ahead for mental health provision in future pandemics
• Expand community alternatives to inpatient admission
• End the “inappropriate” out-of-area placement of children and young people
• Ensure children are not “languishing in hospital” and discharge them only when it is safe
• Improve mental health staffing levels
• End digital exclusion of disadvantaged children and young people from mental health services

“Society has a duty to our children and young people to ensure that mental health services are prepared for the consequences of the next pandemic. If we fail that duty, we fail a generation," he says.

The Covid inquiry has finished for today and will return at 10:00 BST tomorrow.

We will continue wrapping up some of the key lines we've heard this afternoon so stay with us.

Image source, Covid Inquiry

Stephen Simblet KC, from the Covid Airborne Transmission Alliance (CATA), welcomes the inquiry's inclusion of some of the group's previous guidance during earlier modules.

Simblet says one theme in this module is "the obvious conflicts between the instructions given to the wider public when contrasted with the instructions and procedures being provided at work".

"Knowledgeable healthcare workers were instructed to ignore their common sense," Simblet says, adding that some staff members didn't feel adequately protected to provide care to patients.

He goes on to request changes to infection prevention and control (IPC) guidance UK-wide and to protect healthcare workers from airborne pathogens.

Impact on non-Covid care to be key part of modulepublished at 16:22 British Summer Time 9 September

16:22 BST 9 September

Nick Triggle
Health Correspondent

The impact of the pandemic on non-Covid care is going to be a crucial part of this module.

Counsel to the inquiry Jacqueline Carey KC has spent some of the afternoon detailing the ways in which other services were disrupted.

The cancellation of routine operations meant some waiting for hip replacements deteriorated so much they have been left having to use wheelchairs.

She also listed missed cancer diagnoses and people with heart problems dying the community.

There are also examples, she said, of pregnant women delaying seeking help.

Carey suggested fear of catching Covid or a desire not to overwhelm the NHS may have been the motivation even though it put unborn babies at risk.

She also described the deterioration in children’s and young people’s mental health during the pandemic as “stark”, pointing to increasing rates of mental health disorders and in particular eating disorders that were seen.

The latter point is something that is bound to be a major focus of module eight, which is dedicated to children and young people.

But it is a reminder that Covid had both direct and indirect affects on the health of the population.

Image source, Covid Inquiry

The inquiry is now hearing from Neasa Murnaghan KC, representing the Department of Health in Northern Ireland, who says the challenge for the department was "not to make the right decision, but rather to make the decision that was least wrong".

Shielding was introduced with the aim to protect the most vulnerable, she says, and the need for this policy was "kept under continuous review".

But one survey found that shielding had a "detrimental social and psychological effect", she adds.

It remains the view of the department that the decisions made were the "optimum choices at the time," she says, adding it will learn from the inquiry's findings.

Image source, Covid Inquiry

Adam Wagner, who represents 13 pregnancy, baby and parent organisations, says there were "structural failures" during the pandemic to prioritise and provide sufficient resources to the safety of pregnant women and their babies.

Wagner recalls that in one circumstance, a woman had to call her partner after emergency surgery to say that both their babies had died. With no signal at the hospital the woman had to make a decision about what to do with the embryos' remains alone.

Wagner goes on to tell the inquiry that some pregnant women died due to avoidable circumstances, with a report finding that Covid-19 was the leading cause of maternal death in the UK.

"This disproportionately affected black and Asian minority women," Wagner adds, as the study found that "an already under-resourced system where women and minority voices were routinely dismissed" meant clear guidance was "either not known about, or not applied".

David Wolfe KC - representing John's Campaign, Care Rights UK and the Patients Association - says he is speaking for the forgotten people of the healthcare system: carers.

He says he will focus on five themes:

• access to basic healthcare being restricted across all settings
• widespread communication issues in healthcare
• role of family and friends in healthcare was not understood
• care staff lacked training for things that professional health carers usually did
• people with disabilities and complex conditions suffered most severe restrictions but received least support

Wolfe says the inquiry will need to scrutinise infection control at the "expense of many healthcare issues".

A key issue that must be addressed in the inquiry is why certain decisions were made, Wolfe says, and how basic patient rights can be "better protected" in the future.

Image source, Covid Inquiry

We've also heard from Pete Weatherby, representing the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice.

He says that overwhelmed healthcare services led the government to advise people to stay at home and seek medical help only if necessary. This message deterred many who truly needed care, he adds.

He highlights cases where Covid patients were told to stay home and subsequently died due to a lack of immediate treatment. Citing HSSIB (Health Services Safety Investigations Body), he says in March 2020, only 50% of 111 calls were answered, and he believes the inquiry will examine whether these are isolated incidents or part of a broader issue.

Addressing recent media reports that not much has changed within the healthcare system, he says this module must address misconceptions and claims that the NHS wasn't overwhelmed during the pandemic.

Image source, Covid Inquiry

We're now hearing from Sarah Hannett KC, representing several Long Covid groups.

She says they want the inquiry to investigate why despite long Covid being foreseeable, it took so long to respond to the illness and that the response was "inadequate".

She goes on to say that long Covid has deprived young people of parts of their childhood, noting that there's no publicly recorded data on the prevalence of the illness since 2024 and that the NHS cannot measure demand for future services as there's no understanding of current need.

"The healthcare system overlooked long Covid in adults and in children," she says.

Jack Gray
BBC Newsbeat

Image source, Gemma Godwin

Away from the inquiry, let's bring you some comments from Gemma, whose dad David died in hospital during Covid, at the end of 2021 when restrictions on visits were still in place.

“He was just a really generous, lovely person,” she tells BBC Newsbeat. “He would do anything for anybody.”

Gemma only got to see her dad in intensive care just three times in six weeks before he passed away, for 30 minutes at a time. While she’s thankful she was there when he died, she’s angry and frustrated that none of his family or friends could see him in his final weeks.

Gemma wants justice for everyone in her position. She says the thought of people in politics having parties while her family went through such a difficult time still hurts.

“It was a massive kick in the teeth,” she says.

“We elect these people in power to do the right thing, and over the course of Covid... they didn't do the right thing.

“We were let down by people we were supposed to trust”.

Image source, Covid Inquiry

We are now hearing from the Northern Ireland Covid Bereaved Families for Justice, with Peter Wilcock KC saying that "impressions matter" and that this morning, the inquiry watched "powerful testimonies" in the impact video but he adds that it had no voices from Northern Ireland.

This is not "just about including different accents," Wilcock says, and while many experiences during the pandemic were "universal", there are "distinct differences" in the health services of the four nations.

Wilcock says we use this inquiry to learn what happened and assure that we're prepared for the next pandemic.

"We will do all we can within the confines of the module," he says, adding that it must not "shy away" from reflecting the "fundamental reality" that the healthcare system in NI needs more funding.

Image source, Covid Inquiry

Claire Mitchell KC, who represents Scottish Covid Bereaved, says the group's main aim in module three is to find answers to questions on decision-making, palliative care, infection prevention and control measures, protective personal equipment (PPE), shielding and the impact on the clinically vulnerable.

Mitchell says all of those in the UK were impacted by healthcare decisions during the pandemic in some capacity.

She references the World Health Organization's assertion that access to good healthcare is "one of the fundamental rights of every human being".

Mitchell hopes that evidence heard in this module will help ensure that the healthcare system, and those who work to staff it, are in "the best possible" position when the next pandemic comes.

Image source, Covid Inquiry

We're now hearing from Aswini Weereratne KC speaking on behalf of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru.

She says there were over 12,500 Covid-related deaths in Wales, and that the inquiry has overwhelming evidence of "catastrophic failures" which had devastating consequences for the people of Wales.

She says a common theme in the stories shared by the group is that Covid was acquired in hospitals by many.

One of the group's relatives was moved from ward to ward and caught Covid and died in ICU, she says. She adds that another member saw nurses walking around in face masks on their chins.

The inquiry will also consider the impact of the pandemic on pregnant women, with some reluctant to seek help as they were worried about getting Covid, Carey says.

She tells the inquiry that due to Covid rules, some women were alone when they received "devastating news" about their pregnancies, quoting one woman saying that it was "so inhumane", especially knowing now that the "government were having parties".

As a reminder, police issued 126 fixed penalty notices to 83 individuals over events held in and around Number 10 in 2020 and 2021, in what become known as the "partygate" scandal.

Carey now turns to talking about a "further impact that deserves to be highlighted" which is about healthcare workers who worked tirelessly "often to the detriment of their own physical and mental health".

Personal attacks and abuse were often made by those who were "ill-informed and ignorant", Carey says.

The impact of the pandemic is ongoing, she says, listing issues such as long Covid, an exhausted NHS workforce and those who mourn their loved ones.

Jacqueline Carey turns the inquiry's focus to non-Covid conditions, and the impact of the pandemic on other surgeries.

Hip replacement surgeries were delayed as were diagnoses of health issues such as colorectal cancer, the counsel to the inquiry says. Some people due to have hip replacement surgeries were deemed too frail to have the surgery by the time they were able to see a specialist, she explains.

In-patient mental health services were also a point of concern, as children and young people's mental health significantly deteriorated, she adds.

Waiting time between referral and admission rose, and self-isolation rules were identified as some of the issues responsible for delaying the recovery of children and young people.

Jacqueline Carey KC now moves on to discuss the impact of long Covid, where more than 200 symptoms have been reported.

She tells the inquiry that any adult who had Covid is at risk of developing it, with women and those with comorbidities at a heightened risk.

Carey says the precise number of people who've experienced long Covid symptoms is uncertain, with the ONS (Office for National Statistics) estimating in February 2023 that as many as two million people in the UK have experienced it.

Those estimates, in Carey's view, are a powerful reminder of why considering the long-term consequences of pandemic diseases needs to be planned for "wherever possible".

Jacqueline Carey KC, counsel to the inquiry, starts by saying this afternoon's proceedings could be distressing and that people can leave the room if they wish.

She explains the use of CPR on Covid patients during the pandemic, an emergency procedure that aims to restart a person's heart. It's an invasive and dramatic medical intervention, she says.

She says there are reports of DNACPR being used "inappropriately" - notices for not carrying out resuscitations - and one report found a worrying picture of poor record keeping and a lack of scrutiny over the decisions of when to use it.

She also shares the story of a person who died with Covid, who could not be with their loved ones in their final days and had to wave at their family on an iPad from hospital.

Health leaders and former ministers to be questionedpublished at 13:56 British Summer Time 9 September

13:56 BST 9 September

Hugh Pym
Health editor

There has been a report on failings to prepare for the pandemic. We have heard reference to sweary WhatsApp messages and clashes between officials and ministers. But now the inquiry is focussing on what might turn out to be the most important issue - what was happening on the frontline of the NHS.

Key questions have already been raised on the first day - were NHS staff protected adequately with the best quality PPE? Were patients at risk because of poor infection control in hospitals? Did doctors get any guidance on how to prioritise the sickest patients?

The inquiry KC Jacqueline Carey has referred to the poor state of many hospital buildings and equipment going into the pandemic, referring to a critical incident with oxygen supplies at one stage.

Staffing shortages, she suggested, had hindered the ability of the NHS to deliver the best care. For staff who worked through the Covid crisis and families of the bereaved these are crucial issues. Health leaders and former ministers will be questioned on all these areas when they give evidence.