Covid-19 inquiry to show UK was not ready for pandemic
The Guardian|July 18, 2024
The depth of the impact of austerity and Brexit on Britain's readiness for Covid will be spelt out today when the statutory public inquiry into the pandemic givesits first verdict on the country's response.
Robert Booth
Covid-19 inquiry to show UK was not ready for pandemic

Politicians including David Cameron, George Osborne and Matt Hancock are braced to face criticism of their decision-making and priorities in the years running up to the arrival of Covid in early 2020, which claimed at least 230,000 lives across the UK.

Senior health officials will also be held accountable for a strategy that focused heavily on pandemic flu rather than coronavirus. Lady Hallett, the former court of appeal judge chairing the inquiry, is likely to draw conclusions about the lack of transparency over pandemic planning exercises in the years before Covid, including one into pandemic flu which warned "the UK's current preparedness.. is not sufficient to cope with the extreme demands of a severe pandemic".

Brenda Doherty, a spokesperson for the 7,000 members of the Covid19 Bereaved Families for Justice group, said the report the first of at least 10 planned over the coming twoto three years would be "a huge milestone for bereaved families".

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