The inquiry has now moved on to the regular calls that Khan had with the leaders of the devolved administrations.

He says during these calls, he and the ministers shared their experiences of what was working and what wasn't to tackle the spread of the virus.

In a call in May 2020, Khan says that "everyone" expressed concern that the government wasn't engaging sufficiently and that there had been a "shift" in government approach.

There was concern about mixed messaging from the government, Khan says, as people were being told to both return to work and to avoid using public transport.

Jim Reed
Health reporter

Through the pandemic, politicians were trying to strike a difficult balance between suppressing the virus and protecting the economy.

We see that most clearly in the autumn of 2020 as Covid cases start to rise again. Scientists were pushing for tougher restrictions including a circuit-breaker lockdown.

It was an idea resisted at the time by then Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson partly because of the impact on livelihoods and jobs. But the same dilemma was very present in the first wave as well.

We were just shown the transcript of a phone call between Sadiq Khan and Boris Johnson on 22 March 2020.

Both men agreed that voluntary measures brought in on 16 March to reduce contacts and suppress the virus were simply not working.

But a full lockdown would come at "great economic cost", worried Johnson. "There is a trade off, we can't completely screw up the economy," he tells Khan.

The following evening, on 23 March, the prime minister did announce the first full national lockdown across the UK.

You can watch every moment of today’s public hearing by pressing Play at the top of this page.

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Andrew O'Connor KC discusses face coverings and their use early in the pandemic.

Khan's statement says that in the very early stages of pandemic, he received expert advice from his London advisers in April which said the disadvantages of face coverings outweighed the advantages.

However, within two days, evidence from abroad showed that other mayors in global cities were using face coverings and that if a person was asymptomatic these could prevent the spread of droplets.

On 8 April, he wrote to Dominic Raab (standing in for the PM while he was ill at the time) and asked the government to review the advice that face coverings were not effective.

He describes this as an example of initially thinking face coverings did not make much a difference - but even once evidence changed across the globe, "considerations by our government didn't", he says.

Image source, UK Covid-19 Inquiry

Khan says he raised the issue of the economy the first time he met with PM, regarding concerns over people on zero hours contracts and working in the gig economy during lockdown.

"Had we got a grip on the virus earlier and had an earlier lockdown, in my view, it [lockdown] would have been shorter and had less of an impact on the economy," he says.

Khan says "it was quite clear" the PM was considering his points but Johnson "hadn't been persuaded".

Andrew O'Connor KC then asks him about the availability and allocation of PPE in London after the lockdown was announced.

Khan says in his role as mayor, he had lots of different people coming to him raising concerns "from health workers to council leaders responsible for social care" and others.

"I was hearing stories about care workers doing DIY PPE because there was no PPE in some of these care homes," he says, adding: "They carried on for some time."

The questioning now moves on to when the PM announced the first national lockdown.

Boris Johnson was "not aware" that other countries had imposed lockdowns in March 2020, Khan tells the hearing.

The mayor says he met the then PM on 19 March - and it was "clear" to him that some proposals for lockdown measures "had been surfaced, but the prime minister wasn't persuaded".

He says: "The prime minister wasn't aware that in other parts of the world they had lockdowns in place and fines could be issued if you breached the lockdown.

"I was surprised he wasn't aware of that in relation to what was happening elsewhere."

Khan says the UK had a "massive advantage" as it could see what was working elsewhere and what wasn't, but "it seemed that advantage wasn't being used".

Khan was eventually invited to a Cobra meeting on 16 March.

He was told about the concentration of ICU cases in London being "really serious", and the PM was calling the pandemic the "biggest" challenge "since the Second World War" and saying "draconian" measures would be needed, Khan recalls.

"I'd been kept in the dark as the elected mayor of London and I felt almost winded."

"I will never forget that feeling of lack of power, lack of influence, not knowing what was happening in our city," he says.

Baroness Hallett asks what Khan would have done if he had been told by the government earlier - he says he would have lobbied the PM to go into lockdown sooner.

"Had I been at earlier Cobras, I could have pointed out some of the reasons why community transmission was going to accelerate in London - but because I wasn't present there those views weren't heard or responded to."

The inquiry's lawyer, Andrew O'Connor KC, asks Khan about a meeting he had with Prof Sir Chris Whitty on 11 March.

Khan says he asked Whitty for the meeting adding it was was "shocking to hear from him" that this was going to be a global pandemic, but says it was the first time he had met with him "since we'd heard of this virus".

Hearing this from the chief medical officer, he says it was quite clear the virus was "coming our way and we'd be affected badly" because London is a transport hub and has a dense population.

Khan says it made sense London was ahead of the rest of the country in the spread of the virus adding that the information from Whitty made clear the impact was going to be "huge" in the capital.

The London mayor says he asked to attend a Cobra meeting the next day - 12 March - but was told he was not needed.

He says the only powers he had were enhanced cleaning on the London Underground network, which he says he did that week, and cancelling a St Patrick's day event.

To say he was frustrated is an "understatement", he says.

The lawyer is now going over more emails, dating back to early March 2020, where No 10 said Khan would not be invited to Cobra meetings, despite asking to attend.

The government said if Khan was invited, other mayors would need to be present too - basically all mayors or none needed to be there.

Khan says: "It may have been sensible to invite... other mayors to Cobra meetings."

He tells the hearing: "I was told that something in London was different because I was told the pandemic was having an impact on London ahead of the rest of the country.

“The government was aware of the challenges in ICU, the challenges in our hospitals, and the Government was aware of community transmission in London...so there was an argument for London to be treated differently at this particular time."

Khan says he felt "confused" about why he could not attend, adding: "In this particular case, I can see no explanation at all why… the Greater London Authority, the Mayor of London were not around the table.

“I think lives could have been saved if we were there earlier.”

How at risk was London?published at 11:18 Greenwich Mean Time 27 November 2023

11:18 GMT 27 November 2023

Jim Reed
Health reporter, BBC News

We heard some interesting evidence last week about the early spread of Covid in London.

By 21 March 2020, just before the first national lockdown was ordered, there were 193 Covid patients in intensive care in London.

That was around two thirds of the total in all English hospitals, showing just how far ahead the capital was compared with the rest of the country.

At the time the worst case scenarios projected London hospitals would be overwhelmed in nine days, with a central estimate of 15 days.

All this had implications elsewhere because, if London intensive care units were full up, then NHS protocols would mean patients could be transferred to sites outside the capital.

Sir Jonathan Van-Tam, England's deputy medical officer at the time, said there was concern that those areas would then not have enough beds as the pandemic spread more widely.

The discussion continues surrounding Khan's criticism of the government for not contacting the London authority earlier than it did.

Khan says he was not chasing the government by early February as he "wasn't aware how serious it was".

By early March, he says he was contacting global cities - the mayors of Milan and Seoul, and leaders in China "in advance of any information from the UK government".

The lawyer returns to the start of March - to a Cobra meeting held on 2 March.

He brings up an email sent on 28 February by someone in Khan's office to No.10 officials, asking if No.10 intended on inviting the mayor to the Cobra meeting, given the "large number" of airports and international visitors to the capital.

The reply: "No - spoken to those leading - the mayor will not be invited".

"We know about what was happening in Italy, we knew it was half term... I wouldn't [have been] surprised if London was the first place this virus came to...

"If we knew this in City Hall at the time and we didn't have the expertise Her Majesty's Government did... why didn't they?", Khan adds.

The lawyer now turns to 2020 and Khan's understanding of the pandemic.

The lawyer says 23 January was first time Khan received a briefing from his staff about Covid. Khan confirms this, but says that his staff's knowledge came from sources such as newspapers and the web, not from government.

Khan is then asked about Paul Plant, who he says was his health adviser at the time, advising on health and equalities and working for Public Health England. In his statement, Khan said he was "heavily reliant" on information shared by Plant as he wasn't getting any information from the government.

There was nothing wrong with Plant advising him, Khan says, but adds: "You'd expect Downing Street to have been speaking to me - we now know in February there had been Cobra meetings taking place, but we knew nothing about this."

"Had we been aware of some things government were concerned about in February and March we could've taken preventative action," Khan adds.

Khan said he had to "chase" the government for information, asking: "We've heard of this thing [Covid spreading] happening: what do we do?"

Before today's hearing got under way, the inquiry's chair, Baroness Hallett, announced the current cabinet secretary - the UK's most senior civil servant - will not give evidence this year.

Simon Case was formally excused from appearing "due to ill health" and an update on his ability to give evidence will be given at the end of January, or when he returns to work from sick leave.

Baroness Hallett said in her ruling: "It very much remains my intention that Mr Case should give oral evidence to the inquiry."

Image source, PA Media

Khan explains that he was "writing to the government" to ask for information on Covid that was not being provided yet in January, February and the first half of March.

The inquiry lawyer asks him about other emergencies he has experienced as mayor - the Grenfell Tower disaster and the terrorist attacks at Westminster and London Bridge.

They move to discuss the function of Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms meetings.

Khan says he had experience of Cobra during those emergencies. "There's nothing magic about Cobra," he adds. "It's just a room where we meet but it's incredibly important."

He describes it as a "really useful forum" for people "politicians, experts in their own field, people from different parts of the country" to provide expertise.

"As a voice of London you can - with confidence - explain to Londoners what they should and shouldn't be doing."

He says Cobra has, in the past and since Covid, worked "incredibly well" to prepare for emergencies.

Image source, UK Covid-19 Inquiry

Andrew O'Connor KC, counsel to the inquiry, is starting his questions - including confirming that Sadiq Khan has provided a lengthy witness statement.

Khan is asked about the role and powers of the Mayor of London. He confirms he is the senior elected politician responsible for the roughly nine million people who live in the capital.

The lawyer states he has "high level powers... and purposes", as outlined in Khan's statement, but that his role is more "strategic" than "executive" - the Greater London Authority (GLA) is not responsible as London boroughs are for executing local services.

So, the lawyer says, non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) - closing hospitality venues, ordering people to stay at home, for instance - were not his role. Khan agrees, describing the mayor as "the voice of London".

Khan is on the stand and is being sworn in - and so today's inquiry session is about to begin.

There's a few things to get out of the way first, including recapping Khan's previous positions and his roles during the pandemic.

Stay with us for updates. You can also watch by clicking the play button above.

Image source, EPA

Here's a quick reminder of some of the key things to know about the UK's Covid inquiry:

• It’s being chaired by Baroness Hallett - a former Court of Appeal judge who previously led the inquests into the 7 July London bombings in 2005
• The names of people giving evidence will be announced for each week - they include key politicians, scientists, unions, health and care organisations, Covid bereavement groups and more
• Members of the public are being encouraged to share their stories with the inquiry by filling in this form online, external
• No-one will be found guilty or innocent during this inquiry
• This is about going through what happened and learning lessons
• Any recommendations made by the inquiry at the end of this process do not have to be adopted by governments

Image source, Reuters

Up first today is London Mayor Sadiq Khan. He’s held office since 2016 and was in post for the duration of the pandemic

The capital was subject to several major Covid waves. In early January 2021, Khan declared a “major incident” in London, as the spread of Covid grew "out of control".

The coronavirus infection rate in London had exceeded 1,000 per 100,000 people, based on the figures from Public Health England at the time.

In an extract of his evidence to the inquiry, Khan said he was “furious” at having been blocked from attending several early government meetings on Covid, as the potential impacts on the capital became clear.

Khan could be asked his views on how facemasks should have been used during the pandemic. He called for them to be made compulsory on public transport before they were made mandatory - and was often at odds with the government on the issue.

He’ll be answering questions from 10:30 GMT - so stay tuned.

Aurelia Foster
Health reporter

Before today's hearing gets under way, here's a recap of what we learned last week. The inquiry heard claims that scientists were not consulted before the Eat Out to Help out initiative was announced.

The scheme, introduced by then chancellor Rishi Sunak in August 2020, offered discounted meals out in order to boost the hospitality sector.

Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s then chief scientific adviser, said it was “highly likely” to have increased infections and deaths, while Prof Sir Jonathan Van-Tam said the first he heard about the idea was “on TV”.

Van-Tam told the inquiry he and his family were threatened with having their throats cut. Vallance said he was also targeted by abuse and threats.

Image source, HM TREASURY

Additionally, there seemed to be a shared view among the scientists that the UK-wide lockdown in March 2020 should have been brought in earlier, with Sir Patrick saying it was “about a week too late”.

However, when quizzed on the issue, England’s Chief Medical Officer Sir Chris Whitty said thought had to be given to the health risks of an extended lockdown, such as loneliness and depression.

Vallance criticised then Prime Minister Boris Johnson as well as then Health Secretary Matt Hancock, with diary entries revealing he said Johnson was “bamboozled” by science, and described him as “weak and indecisive” in the run-up to the second lockdown.

Later in the week, the business secretary Kemi Badenoch, then equalities minister, told the inquiry how misinformation, conspiracy theories and a lack of trust made it harder to reach minority communities during the pandemic.

Ahead of London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s appearance today, the inquiry published an extract of his evidence in which he said he was “both deeply worried and furious” at being excluded from key government meetings on the pandemic.

In his evidence, Khan said he had requested to attend a Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms (COBR) emergency planning meeting on 2 March 2020, on the basis that London “was clearly one of the most at-risk places in the country” due to its large number of airports, international travellers, and high-density population.

He later added that “no explanation was given” for being blocked from attending.

You can read the full extract here., external