Hancock tells inquiry earlier lockdown may have prevented tens of thousands dying

Tens of thousands of lives could have been saved if the UK had locked down in the pandemic three weeks earlier, Matt Hancock told the Covid inquiry, as he described the operation of Boris Johnson's Downing Street as being undermined by a "culture of fear".

- Peter Walker

Hancock said Dominic Cummings, the prime minister's chief adviser, abused health department staff and attempted to exclude ministers and even Johnson from key decisions at the start of the pandemic, hampering the government's response.

"It inculcated a culture of fear, whereas what we needed was a culture where everybody was brought to the table and given their heads to do their level best in a once-in-a-generation crisis," said Hancock, health secretary at the time. "The way to lead in a crisis like this is to give people the confidence to do what they think needs to happen. And it caused the opposite of that."

Hancock said in retrospect the ideal date for a first lockdown would have been three weeks earlier than when it did occur, 23 March 2020, saying this could have prevented about 90% of the death toll in the first Covid wave, which would avoided more than 30,000 fatalities.

"With hindsight, the first moment we realistically could have cracked it was 2 March. That's the moment we should have done it, and it would have saved many, many, lives."