Contact tracing was ended on 12 March 2020, Stanton says.

This was because the UK was moving from the containment to the delay stage of the pandemic, but also because there was a lack of capacity.

Contact tracing wasn't reinstated for several months, which Stanton says was a critical period.

"These issues were compounded by a lack of testing in the community and the NHS."

He says the shortfall in the testing capacity is partly due to the UK government failing to use the 44 already existing NHS laboratories, and an overreliance on the private sector and seven Lighthouse laboratories (set up by the government in response to the pandemic).

This was "unnecessary, and created unhelpful fragmentation," he continues. Tests were not available for patients or staff.

Brian Stanton, a lawyer for the British Medical Association, is speaking now.

He says doctors and other healthcare workers were on the front line of the pandemic for the UK, and for them, deficiencies in planning "had and continue to have a significant impact on their day-to-day lives".

They have a number of areas they wish to be addressed to improve on in preparedness in the future.

Stanton says preparing for an influenza pandemic was an oversight. This was a "narrow focus", he adds, considering there were other types of pandemics in recent years.

He continues by saying that the failures to consider aerosol transmission resulted in insufficient stocks of PPE and poor infection control.

Claire Mitchell KC, for the Scottish Covid Bereaved, says 17,646 people have died of Covid-19 in Scotland as of 4 June 2023, according to the National Records of Scotland.

She notes this only takes into account death certificates listing Covid, and not those who died due to mental health issues because of the pandemic or those who could not access health care.

"The true human cost of Covid cannot be calculated in numbers," she adds.

She adds the inquiry must never be afraid to "raise its voice for the truth" for those who lost their lives and for those in the future who may be saved by the implementation of the inquiry's finding.

The work of this inquiry may save many more lives in the next pandemic than all the preparation before the Covid pandemic, she adds as she wraps up her opening statement.

We've heard Exercise Cygnus mentioned a few times in today's hearing.

Back in 2016, the government carried out a three-day test run to find out how prepared UK health services were for a flu pandemic.

At that point, the flu virus rather than a coronavirus was seen as the biggest health risk.

Exercise Cygnus involved 950 staff, from across NHS teams, government and council departments, and six prisons.

The simulation tested how they would react at the peak of a hypothetical pandemic, where vaccines had been ordered but had not yet arrived.

The conclusion highlighted a lack of joined-up thinking and oversight, finding that the UK's response was "not sufficient to cope with the extreme demands of a severe pandemic".

Dr Mitchell is now detailing the questions that the bereaved families want answers too.

She adds the questions set out earlier by Hugo Keith KC are welcomed and supported by the Scottish families.

However, she adds questions to the growing list:

• Why were lessons not learned from other outbreaks including the 2002-2004 Sars outbreak?
• Why was the stock of PPE not properly monitored for the expiry of items?
• Were the politicians from the Scottish and UK governments able to put aside political differences to act in the public interest?
• Who decided on the "deadly" steps of releasing untested people into care homes from hospitals?

She continues: "Today it will be over three years since the first death from Covid-19 took place in this country... as our leaders now stand accused of presiding over a carousel of chaos."

Dr Claire Mitchell KC from the Scottish Covid Bereaved is speaking now. The group is led by Aamer Anwar, who is an experienced human rights lawyer.

"The inquriy will come to hear that the UK and Scotland were not prepared," she starts with.

Mitchell says the capacity to cope with Covid-19 was diminished by years of changes to "critical establishment, underfunding, cuts, failures to address inequality and the effects of Brexit".

She adds: "The fact is, those in charge, at best, sought to prepare for the wrong pandemic."

Kirsten Heaven adds those responsible for pandemic planning in Wales "do not appear to have taken sufficient steps to understand and plan for the risk of a pandemic as they would present" in the country.

She says this led to much more "severe consequences" for vulnerable groups in Wales and plans failed to take into account disability and pre-existing health problems in the population.

"You need to bear in mind the Welsh government have had 24 years since devolution to plan for such a pandemic in a way that best protect the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in our society," she adds.

Heaven says there was no planning for the death toll.

She continues, stating that the Welsh government knew it needed to improve air quality control in hospitals and care homes and the availability of PPE.

It also knew it needed to plan for excess deaths from a pandemic, including the worst-case scenario, but it did not, Heaven says.

"There is no evidence of a plan or a strategy" to deal with excess deaths. One example she lists is that there were no provisions arranged for extra body bags and storage. This meant people did not have the dignity they deserved, she added.

"This single failure caused untold suffering in Wales."

Kirsten Heaven continues by saying the Welsh government had the ultimate reponsibiliy and oversight over the pandemic.

She explains Mark Drakeford as chair of the Wales Resilience Forum was charged with planning for a pandemic in Wales.

She adds the most significant failure was only planning for an influenza pandemic and excluding planning for a pandemic caused by another virus.

Kirsten Heaven, who represents Covid Bereaved Families for Justice Wales, is speaking now.

She says the group is "committed to giving a voice to all of those in Wales who are bereaved due to Covid-19".

They want to hold both the Welsh and UK governments to account.

The people of Wales, she says, continue to experience trauma from the pandemic.

"Many of those bereaved people feel let down by their government."

The people of Wales are looking for answers and accountability, Heaven continues.

She adds Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford has said he and the government are fully committed to the inquiry, though they maintain that there is no need for Wales to hold its own inquiry.

But she says the Cymru group is "disappointed" by the "inadequate response and engagement by the Welsh government" in Module 1.

The hearing is now set to resume following a break.

We will continue hearing opening statements from counsel for the core participants.

You can watch our stream of the hearing at the top of the page by clicking on the Play button.

Ashitha Nagesh
BBC News Community Affairs Correspondent

Image source, PA Media

Covid had a particularly devastating impact on minority ethnic communities in the UK.

In the first wave of the pandemic, black people were almost four times more likely to die of Covid than white people, and Asians were twice as likely to die. About 95% of doctors who died of Covid at this time were from minority ethnic backgrounds.

The inquiry has said inequalities will be examined in all modules.

But it's a tense subject.

Back in February, at one of the preliminary sessions that sets out what will be examined in the main hearings, the inquiry's lead counsel Hugo Keith KC said looking at the role of structural racism in module one would be "an impossible task".

There was pushback from equality organisations and bereaved families, who sent a letter to Baroness Hallett saying that it was vital the inquiry look at how racial inequality may have impacted how prepared the country was for the pandemic.

Shortly afterwards, the inquiry said the unequal aspects of the pandemic would be at the forefront of its work. Structural racism experts were then appointed to address module one.

Those who campaigned for this tell me it's a relief the inquiry is listening to their concerns - but that they are frustrated they had to push for it.

Did Brexit damage pandemic planning?published at 13:45 British Summer Time 13 June 2023

13:45 BST 13 June 2023

Jim Reed
Health reporter, BBC News

In his opening address Hugo Keith KC, the lead lawyer to the inquiry, did not shy away from difficult political questions.

The issue of Brexit and whether leaving the EU might have distracted politicians and civil servants from planning for the next pandemic is something victims’ groups have raised in the past.

Keith said that from 2018 onwards that departure and, in particular, planning for a possible no-deal Brexit, required an “enormous amount” of preparations to address “food and medicine supplies, travel and transport, business and borders and so on”.

“Did the attention paid to the risks of a no-deal exit, Operation Yellowhammer as it was known, drain the resources and capacity that should have been continuing the fight against the next pandemic?” he asked.

“Or did all that generic and operational planning, in fact lead to people being better trained and well-marshalled and in fact better prepared to deal with Covid...

Today has been the first day of public hearings for the UK's Covid inquiry.

With the hearing now paused for a lunch break, here's a recap of what happened this morning:

• The lead lawyer to the inquiry, Hugo Keith KC, said there seemed to be "very little thought" in advance about a national lockdown and the consequences for education and the economy and how to mitigate them
• He said the UK was "fundamentally" "taken by surprise" by the Covid pandemic, with government focus on Brexit "crowding out and preventing" preparations for a pandemic
• Pete Weatherby KC, counsel for the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK group, accused UK authorities of "complacent" pandemic planning that was geared towards a flu outbreak
• He accused the government of a slow reaction and a lack of leadership during the pandemic, saying "lost time is measured in lost lives"
• Opening the hearing, chair Lady Hallett said those who had suffered in the pandemic would "always be at the heart of the inquiry"

• A 17-minute video of testimonies from some of the families who lost loved ones during the pandemic was also shown

And with that, Baroness Hallett, chair of the Covid inquiry, has now paused the hearing for a break.

The hearing resumes at 14:00 BST.

Operation Cygnus was a cross-government exercise designed to test the UK's response to a serious influenza pandemic, taking place in 2016.

Lavery says "there was a lack of knowledge among political leaders" in Northern Ireland about preparedness.

Michelle O'Neill, the deputy first minister, "accepts a lack of knowledge of Exercise Cygnus" despite it happening when she was minister for health.

Arlene Foster, who was Northern Ireland's First Minister at the time, also does "not recall being briefed" following the exercise, Lavery says.

Northern Ireland was more than 18 months behind the UK in pandemic preparedness, he adds.

Ronan Lavery KC is speaking now. He represents Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Northern Ireland.

"Our families, my lady, have been impressed by the robust approach that you and Mr Keith and his team are taking."

He continues to commend the team behind the inquiry and how hard they have worked.

"Our families have faith that this inquiry will yield the results which they search for."

Pete Weatherby, lawyer for the families, points to the lack of planning.

He asks why there wasn't a centralised forced within the UK government to deal with pandemics.

By January 2020 there was an absence of planning, and this led the government to make up a plan as it went along once Covid-19 arrived, he says.

He's now finished speaking.

Image source, PA Media

Stepping away from the hearings for a moment, the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group has been displaying billboards showing testimony from those who lost loved ones during the pandemic.

A van from the group displaying messages has been parked outside Dorland House in Paddington, London, where the inquiry is being held and a vigil is being observed.

Image source, PA Media

The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK group represents a large and diverse group of beareaved individuals, Weatherby says.

It is for them that he goes on to list the questions he hopes the inquiry answers.

These include who at a UK level had responsibility for civil emergency preparedness and planning, and who was responsible for assessing the risk of a pandemic and its likely impact.

He also asks about whether the planning in place was optimal, if there was a culture of secrecy in place and to what extent government spending cuts reduced capacity for preparedness.