Dame Jenny Harries, who is chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, has been giving evidence at the Covid-19 Inquiry
Dame Jenny, who was England's deputy chief medical officer from 2019-2021, said cuts put "significant pressure" on local public health systems ahead of the pandemic
She said planning should have covered viruses with a wider range of characteristics and spoke in favour of the creation of a resilience minister role
On Monday morning, Emma Reed, who headed up crisis management at the Department of Health, told the hearing that pandemic planning was deprioritised as a no-deal Brexit loomed
Rosemary Gallagher, an infection prevention expert at the RCN, later told the inquiry that the NHS in England was "50,000 nurses short" at the start of pandemic
It's the third week of the Covid-19 Inquiry which is currently looking at how prepared the UK was for the pandemic
You can watch every moment of the Covid Inquiry by pressing the Play icon at the top of this page.
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This public inquiry was launched by Boris Johnson in May 2021 and it will cover decision-making in Westminster and the devolved administrations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
You might be wondering what the overall aim of a public inquiry is? Well, it aims to respond to "public concern" about events - in this case.
Any inquiry has the power to make people appear as witnesses, and to provide evidence. Inquiries are expected to publish conclusions and may make recommendations.
Good morning and thanks for joining our live coverage of the UK Covid-19 inquiry as we enter the third week of hearings.
This morning, we’ll hear from Emma Reed, who is the director of emergency preparedness and health protection at the Department for Health.
And we’ll also be hearing from Rosemary Gallagher, who is an expert in infection prevention and control at Royal College of Nursing.
The hearing is due to start at 10:30.
And then this afternoon, from 14:00, we’ll hear from Dame Jenny Harries, who is the chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency and was the former deputy chief medical officer for England from 2019 to 2021.
You might remember her from some of the Covid briefings from Downing Street.
You can watch all the evidence by pressing play above. We'll have text updates and analysis this afternoon.