UK Covid-19 inquiry finds government ‘ill-prepared’ for pandemic, failed its citizens
- The inquiry found an outdated 2011 pandemic strategy for flu wasn’t flexible enough to adapt, and was abandoned almost immediately
The UK government was ill-prepared for the Covid-19 pandemic and serious errors in planning failed its citizens, an inquiry found Thursday.
Retired judge Heather Hallett, who is leading the ongoing inquiry, said the government wrongly believed in 2019 that it was one of the best-prepared countries in the world for an outbreak, and it anticipated the wrong pandemic – influenza.
“This belief was dangerously mistaken,” Hallett said in releasing her first report. “In reality, the UK was ill-prepared for dealing with the whole-system civil emergency of a pandemic, let alone the coronavirus pandemic that actually struck.”
The Covid-19 pandemic has been blamed for more than 235,000 deaths in the UK through the end of 2023 – one of the highest death tolls in the world.
“Today’s report confirms what many have always believed – that the UK was underprepared for Covid-19, and that process, planning and policy across all four nations failed UK citizens,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, referring to England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
“The safety and security of the country should always be the first priority, and this government is committed to learning the lessons from the inquiry and putting better measures in place to protect and prepare us from the impact of any future pandemic,” he said.
The first report from the three-year inquiry was focused only on pandemic preparedness. A second phase looking at the government’s response, including the “Partygate” scandal in which then Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his staff broke their own rules by hosting work parties, is due later. A third phase will look into what lessons can be learned from how the nation handled the crisis.
