Now questions move forward to March 2020.

Anna Morris KC asks why measures for older people - mentioned in a 9 March Cobra meeting - were "undetermined".

Hancock says they were putting together the shielding programme at the time, which he says was "extremely successful".

He adds that looking after people in care homes was a "very important area that we were working on".

Asked what concrete measures there were for care homes at the time, when hospitals were told to discharge patients, Hancock says we "issued guidance" along with giving them free PPE.

Evidence shines a light on school closurespublished at 11:08 Greenwich Mean Time 1 December 2023

11:08 GMT 1 December 2023

Hugh Pym
Health editor

Matt Hancock surprised the inquiry and those of us watching yesterday by saying with hindsight lockdown should have happened three weeks earlier in March 2020 and thousands of lives could have been saved.

Today he's been questioned on the autumn lockdown.

A WhatsApp exchange from late October 2020 shown to the inquiry reveals Hancock warning that the prime minister was under enormous pressure not to do enough as “Rishi was in the room”.

His key assertion was that locking down sooner would have prevented the surge in cases at the end of the year and helped the economy.

This is an important area of debate as schools were closed in January 2021 because of fears the NHS would be overwhelmed.

Critics have since argued that the schools shutdown was unnecessary and damaging for children’s welfare.

Hancock’s argument was that the situation was so serious that “every lever had to be pulled”. All this paves the way for the questions likely to be asked of Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak.

Turning to issues around personal protective equipment (PPE) in care homes, Hancock says he is not aware of PPE stock being requisitioned for NHS staff use.

But, he says from the end of January 2020 there was a problem with the amount of PPE.

Hancock explains they started buying at scale, but there was also a demand globally for equipment.

Anna Morris KC highlights a departmental note which says PPE ordered by the care sector was being requisitioned for the NHS.

Image source, Covid Inquiry

Hancock says there were issues getting PPE but insists: "We acted to make sure PPE got to care homes not least due to concerns raised by the sector."

Hancock adds that gathering data was difficult due to a "lack of direct relationship" between the health department and care homes.

Now we're moving on to questions from the representative for the Covid Bereaved Families for Justice group, Anna Morris KC.

Hancock's asked about the decision on 19 March 2020 to discharge untested patients into care homes, and what was done to minimise risk of infection.

Hancock says this was "early on", at a time with few cases, but it was clear the virus was impacting older people more than others, and care homes were a particular risk.

The inquiry is shown a comment from Public Health England on 24 February 2020, which advises that no discharges made from hospitals to care homes.

Hancock says he didn't see the document at the time.

Turning to issues of groups who were more affected by Covid, Matt Hancock says he was struck by the first few NHS Covid-related deaths early in the pandemic.

He tells the inquiry he was "acutely aware of disproportionately affect on those from ethnic backgrounds".

Hancock was aware others in the NHS from minority backgrounds were also more affected.

Lead counsel Hugo Keith KC says he has finished questioning Hancock - others will now ask questions.

WhatsApps could cause more embarrassment for Sunakpublished at 10:44 Greenwich Mean Time 1 December 2023

10:44 GMT 1 December 2023

Pete Saull
Political correspondent

Rishi Sunak is thousands of miles away, at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai.

But, back in a freezing cold London, the Covid inquiry has heard more evidence that could embarrass the current prime minister.

A WhatsApp exchange from October 2020 - when there was a debate raging about whether to introduce a second lockdown - shows Matt Hancock’s frustration with the then chancellor’s position.

Sunak was “in the room” for a meeting, the former health secretary writes, “so the PM [then Boris Johnson] will be under enormous pressure not to act”.

His appearance is yet to be confirmed, but Sunak is expected to defend his own conduct during the pandemic the week after next.

The inquiry's lawyer Hugo Keith now asks Hancock if he was aware of the risks of long Covid.

The former health secretary says he was "acutely aware of it" after the first peak, as some close family members - including his mother - were affected by it.

When asked what role did long Covid affect how he managed things, Hancock says "it makes the impact of the virus even worse".

He says the best way to avoid long Covid was to reduce Covid in general, and therefore calls for similar policies he has already advocated for.

But, he says, it required more research from the NHS, which was "difficult" for a new condition.

Image source, Reuters

Hugo Keith KC asks about Hancock's "transgression" - when he was discovered to be having an affair with his aide Gina Coladangelo in June 2021.

At the time, Hancock admitted breaking social distancing guidance after pictures of him kissing Coladangelo were published in a newspaper.

Keith puts to Hancock that, overall, rule-breaking breaches were damaging to the public.

"The lesson for the future is very clear," Hancock replies.

"It is important that those who make the rules abide by them and I resigned in order to take accountability."

Hancock is asked about whether he had any doubts about the third lockdown in January 2021.

In response, he says "we had to pull every lever" because case rates were so high.

Asked about his statement, where he said the the November lockdown wasn't enough, Hancock says an additional problem was the alpha variant, which was more transmissible, and blew previous calculations.

He says the decision was made to send the country into lockdown again on 4 January 2021.

The situation was "harrowing", Hancock says, as case numbers kept going up.

At the time, they didn't if what they were doing would be enough, but thankfully, he says we managed to get cases under control before it overwhelmed the NHS.

On 30 October 2020, Matt Hancock says he was "blocked from going into a meeting" as the government debated a national lockdown.

More messages between Simon Case and Hancock are shown to the inquiry.

"The prime minister was under pressure not to do enough," Hancock wrote.

In an exchange with Case, Hancock adds he was "very worried about a rear-guard action that has screwed us all over too often".

Hancock insists his primary duty was health concerns at the time, but his arguments "were broader at the time" taking in the impact on the economy.

Jim Reed
Health reporter

In September 2020, many scientists sitting on the Sage advisory group were pushing for a two-week circuit breaker lockdown to try and contain growing Covid infections.

In England the government resisted that idea.

Matt Hancock said that, although he wanted stronger restrictions at the time, he was not a fan of the the circuit-breaker plan.

He didn't think two-weeks was long enough and he worried that the prospect of repeated short lockdowns would eventually lose support from both the public and sceptics in Parliament.

By the end of September, WhatsApp messages show he was instead pushing the idea of a regional tiered system of controls.

But it took until 14 October to put that in place and he said the final system was flawed in a number of ways.

Hancock agreed that the most restrictive tier - tier three - was not strong enough and the system as a whole was too confusing for the public.

It also needed the agreement of local political leaders and, while Hancock said some individuals such as the then mayor of Liverpool were "constructive", in other areas there were disagreements which delayed the implementation.

He appeared to single out the political leadership in Manchester - by which he is referring to the mayor Andy Burnham who gave evidence earlier this week.

Matt Hancock praises cooperation with former Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson when discussing potential restrictions, but he says some politicians were not as helpful and "put politics ahead of public health".

He tells the inquiry those against lockdown action were trying to win their argument by using public debate.

The inquiry lawyer asks Hancock why, in his witness statement, he said the tiers system - which saw different levels of restriction for different parts of England - wouldn't work.

In the statement, Hancock says he thought the measures weren't tough enough, and the localised nature of the system meant a degree of negotiation, delay and confusion with regions were required.

In response, Hancock says regions were under "significant political pressure" not to accept measures.

Whilst some negotiations were constructive, others were "actively unhelpful" and "put politics over public health".

Image source, PA Media

First up, the inquiry's lawyer Hugo Keith KC shows a series of messages sent by Matt Hancock from September 2020.

The messages show he urged the government to "act fast" to avoid a national lockdown amid fears of cases rising in parts of the UK.

Hancock says he was arguing that the UK should have locked down earlier in order to "avoid a tougher lockdown in the future".

"In hindsight if we had taken action sooner in September 2020, we might have avoided the need to close schools," Hancock says.

As a reminder, you can watch every moment of today’s public hearing by pressing Play at the top of this page.

If you can't see the icon, refresh your browser or reload this page on the BBC news app.

Matt Hancock has taken his seat inside the Covid inquiry in central London ahead of his second day of evidence.

He will start by continuing to face questions from the inquiry's lead counsel Hugo Keith KC.

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

Hancock was in charge of the government health department when the pandemic began.

He was tasked with overseeing restrictions such as lockdowns and social distancing, and became a familiar face from his television updates on things like infection rates, public safety and the vaccine rollout.

Hancock was born in Cheshire in 1978. He was elected Conservative MP for West Suffolk at the 2010 election.

He became health secretary in Theresa May’s cabinet in July 2018 and continued in that role when Boris Johnson became PM.

Hancock resigned in June 2021, after he was caught on CCTV breaking social distancing guidance by kissing a colleague.

Image source, EPA

To bring you up to date, here's a quick recap of what he said during a day of questioning yesterday:

• The former health secretary said that, back in early 2020, the UK should have locked down three weeks earlier than it did - a decision he said would have saved "many, many lives"
• He told the inquiry that at the start of the pandemic he had to "wake up Whitehall" to the threat of Covid
• Hancock also used his appearance at the inquiry to accuse Boris Johnson's former aide, Dominic Cummings, of a "power grab" during the pandemic
• He called Cummings a "malign actor" within government, and claimed he actively circumvented the government's emergency response system, and wanted decision-making to be under the control of his office
• He also said he was against a so-called "circuit breaker" as Covid cases rose in the autumn of 2020, despite suggestions from the Sage group of scientific advisers that the government should consider it

For more on Hancock's testimony yesterday, read here.

Thomas Mackintosh
Live reporter

Image source, PA Media

Former Health Secretary Matt Hancock will be back in central London as he continues to answer questions from the inquiry's lead counsel.

Yesterday, Hancock defended his handling of the Covid pandemic, but said many lives could have been saved if the first national lockdown had been introduced three weeks earlier.

He also defended himself, saying there was no "evidence whatsoever" in claims made by other witnesses that he lied to colleagues during the pandemic.

Stay with us Hancock – who resigned as health secretary in 2021 - gives more evidence to the inquiry.