Failures to properly prepare for a pandemic in the UK are expected to be laid bare today as the UK Covid-19 Inquiry publishes its first report.
Inquiry chair Baroness Heather Hallett will deliver her verdict on how well the UK was able to face a deadly outbreak in the run up to 2020 when the Covid pandemic swept across Britain. The report is expected to highlight the UK’s focus on preparing for a flu pandemic instead of a coronavirus pandemic. Lady Hallett may highlight how austerity measures led to public health cut backs.
She could potentially also comment on preparations surrounding personal protective equipment (PPE) and a government focused on Brexit. The UK voted to leave the European Union in June 2016, but it was not until January 2020 that then Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s revised withdrawal agreement passed through Parliament, following years of increasingly bitter arguments.
Last year, the inquiry heard successive senior Tory figures dismiss any connection between their policies and the UK’s failings during the pandemic. However, Nicola Sturgeon, the former first minister of Scotland, told the inquiry that Brexit and the UK government had limited the ability of her government to stem the spread of the coronavirus and manage its health effects.
It was “deeply regrettable” that the threat of a “no-deal Brexit” had forced the government to “divert resources” away from emergency planning on potential pandemics, Ms Sturgeon said. Instead, Scottish ministers had to focus on the UK government’s Operation Yellowhammer report which mapped out the worst case Brexit scenarios, including major disruption to transport, medicine, and food and water supplies, she said.
Key politicians, scientists and health experts appeared as witnesses during the first module of the inquiry – which is titled Resilience and Preparedness.
Former health secretaries Matt Hancock and Jeremy Hunt were put under the spotlight during oral evidence sessions, alongside former prime minister Lord Cameron and former levelling up secretary Michael Gove.
Lord Cameron conceded it was a “mistake” for his government to focus too heavily on preparations for combating a wave of influenza rather than a coronavirus-like pandemic. But he defended the programme of austerity cuts to public services under his leadership between 2010 and 2016, which medics and unions have blamed for leaving the NHS in a “parlous state”.
Mr Hunt admitted being part of “groupthink” when he was health secretary, leading to a “narrowness of thinking” that failed to expand UK pandemic preparedness beyond planning for a flu outbreak. And Mr Hancock said it was a “colossal” failure to assume the spread of the virus could not be stopped.
Meanwhile, Mr Gove argued that planning for a no-deal Brexit made the UK “more match fit” for dealing with the pandemic. He denied that moving staff over to Brexit work had a detrimental effect on pandemic planning when he appeared before the inquiry in July last year.
There were more than 235,000 deaths involving Covid-19 in the UK up to the end of 2023.
Brenda Doherty, on behalf of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK, said in a statement: “The publication of the module one report marks a huge milestone for bereaved families like mine. We know that for lives to be saved in the future, lessons must be learnt from the mistakes of the past. Sadly, nobody knows the true cost of the government’s failure to prepare as we do.
“From campaigning to bring about an inquiry, to hearing revelation after revelation regarding the ways in which our loved ones were failed, the years leading up to today have been draining. We know, however, that the inquiry’s recommendations have the potential to save lives in the future, if lessons have been learned from the loss of our loved ones.”
The first module of the public inquiry examined “if the pandemic was properly planned for and whether the UK was adequately ready for that eventuality”. As well as highlighting blunders made in the run-up to the pandemic, Lady Hallett is expected to make recommendations about how the UK can better prepare itself for a future outbreak.
Academics have said it is a question of “when not if” another pandemic will hit, so it is hoped that recommendations, if implemented, could put the UK in a better starting place to face a new and unknown disease – known by many as Disease X.
One leading expert said that officials should adopt counterterrorism-like approaches to prepare for future pandemic threats.
Professor Liam Smeeth, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), said: “The key lesson from the first UK Covid inquiry report is that if the UK waits for the next pandemic to emerge, it will be too late. The fight against pandemics is like counterterrorism, we must use similar approaches such as gathering and sharing the best intelligence on global disease threats and joining forces to confront outbreaks before they become pandemics.
“Like terrorists, lethal viruses take no notice of national borders and can strike anywhere at any time. We have to work with global partners to combat this global threat – this means not just improving our planning, surveillance, and ability to respond in the UK, but supporting those on the frontline fighting outbreaks around the world.”
Professor Smeeth said that a pandemic treaty with other countries was “essential”, adding: “We should find ways to collectively defend our whole planet and commit to sharing data, know-how and resources – such as surveillance tools, protective equipment and vaccines – on a global scale while we can.
“We don’t know what the next dangerous outbreak will be, what we do know is that it’s going to happen. We need to seize the moment to agree new ways of working, and deeper collaboration so that we are better prepared for the next global disease threat when it arrives.”
Former prime minister Boris Johnson did not give spoken evidence during the first module. He first appeared as a witness in the second module of the inquiry, which is examining UK decision making and political governance.