Weatherby continues his opening statement saying families expect the evidence will show a lack of responsibility in government for civil emergency preparedness, with little or no ministerial leadership.

He says they also expect the evidence will confirm "a chaos of committees" leading to poor planning and a reactive approach, rather than being proactive in fighting the virus.

"We anticipate a consequence of this was a slow reaction," he says.

"Time is of essence and lost time is measured in lost lives."

Following his mention of David Cameron's warning about pandemics, Weatherby says "it's hard to fathom why the UK government's national risk assessment took such a complacent view of its likely impact and did so repeatedly".

He says for the families, the first module should address if the UK did everything it could have.

"Why was there no overall plan?"

He questions why planners didn't have sufficient advice, why there wasn't a minister with overall responsibility, and why there was not proper resourcing in place.

Pete Weatherby KC, counsel for Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK group, is now speaking.

He reads a 2015 press release quoting former Prime Minister David Cameron saying the "world must be far better prepared for future health pandemics" following the Ebola outbreak, and particularly respiratory diseases.

Weatherby goes on to quote World Health Organization statistics on seven million deaths from Covid around the globe.

He says bereaved families want to know what Cameron's government and subsequent governments did after he raised this eight years ago.

Lawyer hints at where UK planning may have been lackingpublished at 12:22 British Summer Time 13 June 2023

12:22 BST 13 June 2023

Hugh Pym
BBC News Health Editor

The opening statement by Hugo Keith KC, counsel for the inquiry, has dropped strong hints about the areas of UK pandemic preparedness which might have been lacking before the virus struck in January 2020.

He said flu was seen as the main risk and questioned whether other disease risks were considered.

Decision makers appear to have been taken by surprise and issues like the unequal impact of a virus on the vulnerable seem not to have been considered before, Keith explained.

He raised the question of funding and resources for the NHS. And, intriguingly, the inquiry KC added that there seemed to have been very little thought about a national lockdown and a failure to think through the consequences for education and the economy.

Keith wraps up his address by saying: "There is a great deal to cover - I have said quite enough."

We'll now hear opening statements from "core participants" before hearing from witnesses.

Keith mentions how the pandemic happened shortly after the UK left the EU.

It is clear, he says, that Brexit planning from 2018 "crowded out and prevented, some, or perhaps a majority of improvements" that were needed for emergency planning and preparedness.

Did this drain the resources and capacity "that should have been utilised in preparing the United Kingdom for civil emergency", he asks.

Keith is now talking us through the planned preparedness and response structures in the UK from August 2019.

You can see it below.

Under these structures, the government has no legal duties but emergency services and utility and communication providers do.

He explains that the idea behind this is for people with local knowledge to be responsible for making decisions on the ground, which works well for when a crisis develops in a region or small area, such as a flood.

However, he asks, if this is the best model for an emergency like a pandemic.

Image source, Covid-19 Inquiry

Hugo Keith KC, lead lawyer for the inquiry, goes on to say there was little debate pre-pandemic about lockdowns and how they could be avoided.

He also says there was little thought on how damaging a lockdown could be to the economy.

Keith goes on to ask if there was an "element of complacency" following the UK's response to Swine Flu in 2009.

He also asks whether there should be an independent agency with complete control for national planning and preparedness providing advice to the government.

As the public hearings at the inquiry get under way, bereaved families have been holding a silent protest.

About 100 families from the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice campaign group have travelled to London for the hearing.

The hearings are taking place at Dorland House in Paddington and are open to the public.

Image source, PA Media

Image source, PA Media

Image source, PA Media

Image source, PA Media

Keith continues, referencing the so-called Integrated Emergency Management structure which had six phases and was a key part of the UK's pandemic plans.

These were anticipate, assess, prevent, prepare, respond and recover. This "concept underpinned" the preparedness and emergency response, he explains.

"Were these stages the right ones?", he asks.

He also asks if there was expert advice, and if it was sufficient enough in its range and diversity. He says that Taiwan, South Kora and Singapore had learned from other pandemics, and did the government learn from these other countries?

Chief counsel gives hints as to where inquiry is headingpublished at 11:39 British Summer Time 13 June 2023

11:39 BST 13 June 2023

Jim Reed
Health reporter, BBC News

Hugo Keith, chief counsel to the inquiry, will not want to pre-empt the weeks of evidence ahead of us.

But in his opening address he started setting out the detail around module one of the inquiry, which looks specifically at pandemic planning up to January 2020.

Already there are some hints about where this is heading.

He said that on 3 March 2020 a UK-wide Covid action plan stated that the country was “well prepared” to respond in a way which offered “substantial protection to the public”.

“Even at this stage, before hearing the evidence, it is apparent that we might not have been very well prepared at all,” he said.

He highlighted “shocking” data showing that Covid mortality was two-and-half-times higher in some of the most deprived parts of the country, with people in some ethnic minority groups or with a physical or learning disability far more likely to be infected and die of the disease.

To what extent those outcomes could and should have been foreseen or mitigated would be a “big question” in module one, he said.

Pandemics, while rare, are not new - and Black Death, cholera and other diseases "have walked with us", Keith says. He says diseases spreading from animals to humans and diseases spreading wider and faster means international surveillance and alert systems need to work effectively.

He talks about the transmissibility of diseases - how infectious they are and how quickly they spread. He mentions two notable sub-types of bird flu which are currently prevalent with a high case mortality rate.

"Fortuitously, they haven't yet spread from human to human. Let us hope they never do but the possibility cannot be ruled out which adds greater impetus to ensure our systems of preparedness are ready."

Keith reminds us that, according to official figures, some 226,977 people across the UK died with Covid-19 being recorded on their death certificate.

Chief counsel to the Covid inquiry Hugo Keith turns to how Covid affected some groups of people much more severely.

"Shockingly, mortality was 2.6 times higher in the most deprived than the least deprived tenth of areas," he says.

"People from some ethnic minority groups had a significantly higher risk of being infected by Covid-19 and also from dying from it."

He said mortality was highest in the Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Black Caribbean communities, and also higher in people with a self-reported disability or a learning disability.

He says the big question here is to what extent were these outcomes foreseen or capable of mitigation.

Image source, PA Media

A group of families who lost loved ones during the pandemic has accused the inquiry of "excluding" them from proceedings.

About 100 families from the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice campaign group are holding a vigil outside where the inquiry is being held.

They say they have been prevented from sharing key evidence.

"The inquiry's inadequate “Every Story Matters” project and decision to only call up one of our 6,500 members to speak in the first module have been incredibly disappointing and hurtful.

"But far worse, they risk crucial learnings being missed, which could cost lives in the future."

Chief counsel to the inquiry Hugo Keith KC says "fundamentally we were taken by surprise" by the Covid pandemic.

Huge, urgent, complex policy decisions were taken relating to shielding, employment policy, lockdowns and social restrictions, he adds. "Few of these areas were anticipated, let alone considered in detail.

"No country can be perfectly prepared but it can certainly be under-prepared."

He goes on to say that module one of this hearing will be looking at whether the right structures, procedures and plans were in place.

As we reported, the inquiry was earlier shown a film from bereaved families across the UK.

Here's a short clip from the 17-minute video.

Hallett visibly moved by families' testimoniespublished at 10:49 British Summer Time 13 June 2023

10:49 BST 13 June 2023

Hugh Pym
BBC News Health Editor

Hallett’s opening remarks made clear her determination to put those who were affected by the pandemic at the heart of the inquiry.

She looked visibly moved after the video with testimonies from those who lost loved ones was played.

Among the harrowing stories was the pain and guilt caused by the lack of dignity, and limits on numbers at funerals during lockdown.

Hallett said all those present would have found it distressing.

"It is absolutely clear now, with hindsight, that the disease was spiralling out of control," Keith says.

"But to what extent was that possibility foreseen, planned for, and guarded against?"

Keith adds how the government ended community testing and moved it to hospitals and key workers.

This, he said, means the system had not adequately prepared for mass testing for a non-influenza pandemic.

Keith turns now to the UK's pandemic preparedness plans.

"Based on the experience of dealing with other infectious diseases and the influenza pandemic preparedness work that had been carried out, the plan stated that the United Kingdom was well prepared to respond in a way that offered substantial protection to the public.

"Whether that was actually the case will be examined in module one.

"And even at this stage, before hearing the evidence, it is apparent that we might not have been very well prepared at all."