The first two witnesses in the UK's Covid inquiry have finished giving their evidence. Over the next six weeks, we’re expecting around 70 people to take the stand in just this first module of the inquiry, which looks at pandemic planning.
Here's a recap of the key developments from today:
Fiona Scolding KC, representing the Department of Health in England, said the government would not argue it got everything right in its response to Covid and accepted that “with the benefit of hindsight” it may have made some different decisions. She described the pandemic as an “all-consuming period akin to a war”
Matthew Hill, for the Government Office for Science, defended the role of the Sage committee of scientific experts, which advised the government. It was only because Sage documents and minutes were published transparently, he said, that the committee got so much prominence. Other advice was not subject to the same scrutiny, he said
Prof Jimmy Whitworth said a coronavirus had infected humans on a significant scale twice in the 21st century with Sars and Mers, so it was “a reasonable bet” before 2020 that another one might get into the human population. He said it was still plausible another might come along in the future
Dr Charlotte Hammer was asked about the dangers of a virus being leaked, either deliberately or accidentally, from a laboratory and said she was aware of four such incidents involving the Sars virus
Andrew Kinnier KC, representing the Welsh government, said preparations for Brexit consumed the attention of governments across the UK from 2017 in a way that “couldn’t be underestimated”
Hearing ends
The questions being asked of this afternoon's witnesses, epidemiologists Prof Jimmy Whitworth and Dr Charlotte Hammer, are now finished. With that, today's hearing ends.
Inquiry chair Lady Hallett confirms the hearings will resume tomorrow at 10:00 BST.
Stay with us and we'll bring you a recap of today's main developments.
Inquiry chair allows lawyer for families to ask follow-up questions
Jim Reed
Health reporter, BBC News
It’s interesting that the lead counsel to the inquiry, Hugo Keith KC, just finished his questioning for the day and asked the chair, Baroness Hallett, to give her formal permission to let a different lawyer ask some follow-up questions.
In this case it’s Peter Weatherby KC, representing the bereaved families, who is now speaking directly to the two scientific witnesses.
In other public inquiries I’ve attended any extra questions from other interested parties have had to be been submitted in written form.
It could be very interesting later in the inquiry if Lady Hallett sticks to this format and allows the lawyer representing thousands of bereaved families to cross-examine senior politicians and other policy makers directly on camera.
Inquiry chair questions 'jargon' in new biological security strategy
Hugh Pym
BBC News Health Editor
The two scientists giving evidence at the inquiry are asked to consider a new UK Government Biological Security Strategy, published only this week.
Prof Jimmy Whitworth and Dr Charlotte Hammer say it is broadly in line with their own current approach to tackling future outbreaks. Inquiry chair Baroness Hallett questions some of the terminology, such as “effectively remediate”. She goes on to say there’s “a lot of jargon”. A lighter moment in a detailed discussion of scientific evidence.
BBC Verify
How far have other countries got with inquiries?
Some countries have got further with their inquiries.
Sweden started so early that it had to hold hearings remotely due to Covid restrictions.
It published its final report in February 2022. Norway and the Netherlands have also had reports published by their inquiries.
The Scottish inquiry- which is separate to the UK's - appointed a new chief executive earlier in the week and New Zealand’s inquiry seems to be at about the same stage as the UK's.
But not many other countries have had independent inquiries so far. The US, for example, has not set up a Covid commission, despite the efforts of some members of Congress.
And in Canada there is a National Citizen’s Inquiry because the government did not commission one.
Parallels with Sars gave us shivers, virus expert says
Jim Reed
Health reporter, BBC News
The inquiry has made it clear it is not going to investigate the origins of the Covid pandemic but concentrate only on its impact on the UK.
In questioning, though, Dr Charlotte Hammer was asked about the dangers of a virus being leaked, either deliberately or accidentally, from a laboratory.
She said that accidents had happened in the past and she was aware of four incidents involving the Sars virus. In terms of controlling an outbreak once it has started to infect thousands of people, the actual origins of the virus matter “very little”, Hammer said.
Prof Jimmy Whitworth was then asked about the surveillance of Covid once it had been detected in Wuhan, China, and started to spread around the world in early 2020.
He said that by mid-January of that year, people working in the international health community were aware that the outbreak was “out of the ordinary” and was not going to die away.
The parallels with diseases like Sars and Mers, also caused by different forms of coronavirus, were “something that was giving us shivers,” he added.
By the end of January 2020, he said those working in public health were clear that an impending wave was coming to the UK.
How long will the Covid inquiry take?
PA MediaCopyright: PA Media
The inquiry has no formal deadline and is set to continue for years, with public hearings due to be held until 2026.
Its work will be split into six parts, with the first - which we are now in - looking at resilience, preparedness, core UK decision-making, political governance and the impact of Covid-19 on the NHS.
Then, with hearings in 2024 and 2025, the inquiry will look at the UK care sector, vaccines, anti-viral treatment and government procurement.
'Over-slavish' focus on flu planning a fair criticism, epidemiologist says
Hugh Pym
BBC News Health Editor
There has just been a fascinating exchange on pre-2020 pandemic planning between Hugo Keith, counsel for the inquiry, and virus expert Prof Jimmy Whitworth, who has advised the World Health Organization.
Keith wanted to know what was being done to prepare for a disease X – that is, an unexpected new virus or bacteria – rather than focusing on what had happened before.
Keith suggested there was an “over-slavish” focus on a flu virus.
Prof Whitworth said this was a “fair criticism”. The professor noted that a coronavirus had got into humans on a significant scale twice in the 21st century with Sars and Mers, so it was “a reasonable bet” before 2020 that another one might get into the human population and it was still plausible another might come along in the future.
Hearing resumes
The hearing has now resumed after a break for lunch. We'll bring you the key lines and analysis.
Just to remind you, you can watch by clicking the play button at the top of the page.
Covid inquiry - the key things to know
REUTERSCopyright: REUTERS
There's currently a pause in the proceedings. While we wait for the hearing to resume, here's a quick recap on some of the key things to know about the UK's Covid inquiry.
It is being chaired by Baroness Hallett - a former Court of Appeal judge who previously led the inquests into the 7 July London bombings in 2005
Witnesses will be announced each week, but we expect to hear from 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.
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
First witnesses discuss how animal diseases cross over
Jim Reed
Health reporter, BBC News
Two years after this inquiry was announced, we
have just seen the first witnesses being questioned under oath.
Dr Charlotte Hammer is from Cambridge University and Jimmy
Whitworth is a former professor of international public health who researched
the AIDS outbreak in Uganda in the 1990s.
They were both asked by the inquiry in January to write a
report on infectious disease control and the way outbreaks are monitored.
In questioning, the talk so far has been about “zoonotic
spillover events” – that’s how diseases in the animal world can crossover and
start to infect humans.
Prof Whitworth said there are likely hundreds “if not
thousands” of different coronaviruses present in the animal kingdom.
We only know of seven though which have infected humans
including the viruses which cause Sars, Mers, and Covid.
Dr Hammer says the potential for these types of crossovers
has been greatly heightened as we come into closer contact with different
animal species, and live in a more globalised, interconnected world where bugs
can spread much faster across regions and borders.
Covid inquiryCopyright: Covid inquiry
Prof Whitworth being sworn inImage caption: Prof Whitworth being sworn in
Recap: 'A period akin to war'
Jim Reed
Health reporter, BBC News
Here's some more highlights from this morning's session.
Scolding - representing the Department of Health - said the pandemic was a “confused period akin
to war”.
She described testing and diagnostics as a “significant weakness”
compared to some other countries in the early part of the pandemic.
Hill, from the Government Office for Science, pointed out scientific areas where the UK did well in the pandemic – including
genetic sequencing, vaccines and clinical trials.
But he - like Scolding - he said there were weaknesses in other areas, including testing and diagnostics.
Meanwhile, Andrew Kinnier KC, representing the
Welsh government, said preparations for Brexit consumed the attention of governments across the UK
from 2017 in a way that “couldn’t be underestimated”.
But he said some of those
preparations also “bore fruit” when the pandemic struck.
Recap: Government lawyer accepts not every decision was right
Hugh Pym
BBC News Health Editor
While we're listening to this afternoon's witnesses, let's recap some of the lawyers' representations this morning.
Matthew Hill, for the Government Office for Science, defended the role of the Sage committee of scientific experts.
He said
Sage didn’t make policy - and added that the group wasn’t the only source of
advice, with government departments having their own scientific advisers.
It was only because Sage documents and minutes were published, he said,
that the committee got so much prominence. Other advice was not subject to the
same scrutiny.
Fiona Scolding KC, for
the Department of Health and Social Care, acknowledged that lockdown rules had
a major impact on families - including restrictions on funerals.
She said the
department recognised that many people didn’t like decisions on lockdowns but
that all options were unpalatable and decisions were finely balanced.
Crucially, she noted that the department would not seek to say it did everything right - or
that it would have made the same decisions with hindsight.
Scolding acknowledged weaknesses in the UK response, including a lack of testing in the early months.
She said future resilience required safe staffing and enough NHS
beds, along with the ability to scale up procurement of PPE and drugs.
This
seemed like concessions that the UK should have done better in 2020 and needed
to think hard about preparing for the next pandemic.
BreakingUK Covid-19 Inquiry hears from witnesses for first time
We were expecting to hear from Prof Jimmy Whitworth and Dr Charlotte Hammer from 14:00 BST.
But this morning's session finished ahead of schedule, so we're hearing from them now.
Press play above to watch their evidence. We'll also have text updates here.
Welcome
Welcome to our coverage of day two of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry's public hearings.
This morning, we're expecting to hear from lawyers and legal advisers.
This afternoon, the first witnesses will be called - Prof Jimmy Whitworth and Dr Charlotte Hammer, both epidemiologists.
You can watch the hearings by pressing play above from 10:00 BST. There will not be live text coverage this morning.
Live Reporting
Edited by Alex Therrien
All times stated are UK
- Fiona Scolding KC, representing the Department of Health in England, said the government would not argue it got everything right in its response to Covid and accepted that “with the benefit of hindsight” it may have made some different decisions. She described the pandemic as an “all-consuming period akin to a war”
- Matthew Hill, for the Government Office for Science, defended the role of the Sage committee of scientific experts, which advised the government. It was only because Sage documents and minutes were published transparently, he said, that the committee got so much prominence. Other advice was not subject to the same scrutiny, he said
- Prof Jimmy Whitworth said a coronavirus had infected humans on a significant scale twice in the 21st century with Sars and Mers, so it was “a reasonable bet” before 2020 that another one might get into the human population. He said it was still plausible another might come along in the future
- Dr Charlotte Hammer was asked about the dangers of a virus being leaked, either deliberately or accidentally, from a laboratory and said she was aware of four such incidents involving the Sars virus
- Andrew Kinnier KC, representing the Welsh government, said preparations for Brexit consumed the attention of governments across the UK from 2017 in a way that “couldn’t be underestimated”
PA MediaCopyright: PA Media 
REUTERSCopyright: REUTERS -
It is being chaired by Baroness Hallett - a former Court of Appeal judge who previously led the inquests into the 7 July London bombings in 2005
- Witnesses will be announced each week, but we expect to hear from 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.
-
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
Covid inquiryCopyright: Covid inquiry Prof Whitworth being sworn inImage caption: Prof Whitworth being sworn in 
-
Our day one report is here
-
The explainer on the inquiry is here
-
And the latest Covid stats are here
Latest PostThat's it for today
We're now ending our coverage of the UK's Covid inquiry for today. Thanks for joining us.
The BBC's health editor Hugh Pym and health reporter Jim Reed were the writers for today's live page. The editor was Alex Therrien.
You can read more about the Covid inquiry here.
What happened today?
Jim Reed
Health reporter, BBC News
The first two witnesses in the UK's Covid inquiry have finished giving their evidence. Over the next six weeks, we’re expecting around 70 people to take the stand in just this first module of the inquiry, which looks at pandemic planning.
Here's a recap of the key developments from today:
Hearing ends
The questions being asked of this afternoon's witnesses, epidemiologists Prof Jimmy Whitworth and Dr Charlotte Hammer, are now finished. With that, today's hearing ends.
Inquiry chair Lady Hallett confirms the hearings will resume tomorrow at 10:00 BST.
Stay with us and we'll bring you a recap of today's main developments.
Inquiry chair allows lawyer for families to ask follow-up questions
Jim Reed
Health reporter, BBC News
It’s interesting that the lead counsel to the inquiry, Hugo Keith KC, just finished his questioning for the day and asked the chair, Baroness Hallett, to give her formal permission to let a different lawyer ask some follow-up questions.
In this case it’s Peter Weatherby KC, representing the bereaved families, who is now speaking directly to the two scientific witnesses.
In other public inquiries I’ve attended any extra questions from other interested parties have had to be been submitted in written form.
It could be very interesting later in the inquiry if Lady Hallett sticks to this format and allows the lawyer representing thousands of bereaved families to cross-examine senior politicians and other policy makers directly on camera.
Inquiry chair questions 'jargon' in new biological security strategy
Hugh Pym
BBC News Health Editor
The two scientists giving evidence at the inquiry are asked to consider a new UK Government Biological Security Strategy, published only this week.
Prof Jimmy Whitworth and Dr Charlotte Hammer say it is broadly in line with their own current approach to tackling future outbreaks. Inquiry chair Baroness Hallett questions some of the terminology, such as “effectively remediate”. She goes on to say there’s “a lot of jargon”. A lighter moment in a detailed discussion of scientific evidence.
BBC Verify
How far have other countries got with inquiries?
Some countries have got further with their inquiries.
Sweden started so early that it had to hold hearings remotely due to Covid restrictions.
It published its final report in February 2022. Norway and the Netherlands have also had reports published by their inquiries.
The Scottish inquiry- which is separate to the UK's - appointed a new chief executive earlier in the week and New Zealand’s inquiry seems to be at about the same stage as the UK's.
But not many other countries have had independent inquiries so far. The US, for example, has not set up a Covid commission, despite the efforts of some members of Congress.
And in Canada there is a National Citizen’s Inquiry because the government did not commission one.
Parallels with Sars gave us shivers, virus expert says
Jim Reed
Health reporter, BBC News
The inquiry has made it clear it is not going to investigate the origins of the Covid pandemic but concentrate only on its impact on the UK.
In questioning, though, Dr Charlotte Hammer was asked about the dangers of a virus being leaked, either deliberately or accidentally, from a laboratory.
She said that accidents had happened in the past and she was aware of four incidents involving the Sars virus. In terms of controlling an outbreak once it has started to infect thousands of people, the actual origins of the virus matter “very little”, Hammer said.
Prof Jimmy Whitworth was then asked about the surveillance of Covid once it had been detected in Wuhan, China, and started to spread around the world in early 2020.
He said that by mid-January of that year, people working in the international health community were aware that the outbreak was “out of the ordinary” and was not going to die away.
The parallels with diseases like Sars and Mers, also caused by different forms of coronavirus, were “something that was giving us shivers,” he added.
By the end of January 2020, he said those working in public health were clear that an impending wave was coming to the UK.
How long will the Covid inquiry take?
The inquiry has no formal deadline and is set to continue for years, with public hearings due to be held until 2026.
Its work will be split into six parts, with the first - which we are now in - looking at resilience, preparedness, core UK decision-making, political governance and the impact of Covid-19 on the NHS.
Then, with hearings in 2024 and 2025, the inquiry will look at the UK care sector, vaccines, anti-viral treatment and government procurement.
Public hearings will be held in all four UK nations. However, Scotland has also said it will hold a separate inquiry.
'Over-slavish' focus on flu planning a fair criticism, epidemiologist says
Hugh Pym
BBC News Health Editor
There has just been a fascinating exchange on pre-2020 pandemic planning between Hugo Keith, counsel for the inquiry, and virus expert Prof Jimmy Whitworth, who has advised the World Health Organization.
Keith wanted to know what was being done to prepare for a disease X – that is, an unexpected new virus or bacteria – rather than focusing on what had happened before.
Keith suggested there was an “over-slavish” focus on a flu virus.
Prof Whitworth said this was a “fair criticism”. The professor noted that a coronavirus had got into humans on a significant scale twice in the 21st century with Sars and Mers, so it was “a reasonable bet” before 2020 that another one might get into the human population and it was still plausible another might come along in the future.
Hearing resumes
The hearing has now resumed after a break for lunch. We'll bring you the key lines and analysis.
Just to remind you, you can watch by clicking the play button at the top of the page.
Covid inquiry - the key things to know
There's currently a pause in the proceedings. While we wait for the hearing to resume, here's a quick recap on some of the key things to know about the UK's Covid inquiry.
First witnesses discuss how animal diseases cross over
Jim Reed
Health reporter, BBC News
Two years after this inquiry was announced, we have just seen the first witnesses being questioned under oath.
Dr Charlotte Hammer is from Cambridge University and Jimmy Whitworth is a former professor of international public health who researched the AIDS outbreak in Uganda in the 1990s.
They were both asked by the inquiry in January to write a report on infectious disease control and the way outbreaks are monitored.
In questioning, the talk so far has been about “zoonotic spillover events” – that’s how diseases in the animal world can crossover and start to infect humans.
Prof Whitworth said there are likely hundreds “if not thousands” of different coronaviruses present in the animal kingdom.
We only know of seven though which have infected humans including the viruses which cause Sars, Mers, and Covid.
Dr Hammer says the potential for these types of crossovers has been greatly heightened as we come into closer contact with different animal species, and live in a more globalised, interconnected world where bugs can spread much faster across regions and borders.
Recap: 'A period akin to war'
Jim Reed
Health reporter, BBC News
Here's some more highlights from this morning's session.
Scolding - representing the Department of Health - said the pandemic was a “confused period akin to war”.
She described testing and diagnostics as a “significant weakness” compared to some other countries in the early part of the pandemic.
Hill, from the Government Office for Science, pointed out scientific areas where the UK did well in the pandemic – including genetic sequencing, vaccines and clinical trials.
But he - like Scolding - he said there were weaknesses in other areas, including testing and diagnostics.
Meanwhile, Andrew Kinnier KC, representing the Welsh government, said preparations for Brexit consumed the attention of governments across the UK from 2017 in a way that “couldn’t be underestimated”.
But he said some of those preparations also “bore fruit” when the pandemic struck.
Recap: Government lawyer accepts not every decision was right
Hugh Pym
BBC News Health Editor
While we're listening to this afternoon's witnesses, let's recap some of the lawyers' representations this morning.
Matthew Hill, for the Government Office for Science, defended the role of the Sage committee of scientific experts.
He said Sage didn’t make policy - and added that the group wasn’t the only source of advice, with government departments having their own scientific advisers.
It was only because Sage documents and minutes were published, he said, that the committee got so much prominence. Other advice was not subject to the same scrutiny.
Fiona Scolding KC, for the Department of Health and Social Care, acknowledged that lockdown rules had a major impact on families - including restrictions on funerals.
She said the department recognised that many people didn’t like decisions on lockdowns but that all options were unpalatable and decisions were finely balanced.
Crucially, she noted that the department would not seek to say it did everything right - or that it would have made the same decisions with hindsight.
Scolding acknowledged weaknesses in the UK response, including a lack of testing in the early months.
She said future resilience required safe staffing and enough NHS beds, along with the ability to scale up procurement of PPE and drugs.
This seemed like concessions that the UK should have done better in 2020 and needed to think hard about preparing for the next pandemic.
BreakingUK Covid-19 Inquiry hears from witnesses for first time
We were expecting to hear from Prof Jimmy Whitworth and Dr Charlotte Hammer from 14:00 BST.
But this morning's session finished ahead of schedule, so we're hearing from them now.
Press play above to watch their evidence. We'll also have text updates here.
Welcome
Welcome to our coverage of day two of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry's public hearings.
This morning, we're expecting to hear from lawyers and legal advisers.
This afternoon, the first witnesses will be called - Prof Jimmy Whitworth and Dr Charlotte Hammer, both epidemiologists.
You can watch the hearings by pressing play above from 10:00 BST. There will not be live text coverage this morning.