Government chaos and a failure to take Covid-19 seriously cost 23,000 lives in the first wave of the pandemic, a major public inquiry has concluded.
Former prime minister Boris Johnson presided over a "toxic" culture in Number 10 and regularly changed his mind, while key officials including health secretary Matt Hancock failed to act with the urgency needed to tackle the virus. Baroness Heather Hallett's damning report found that bringing in lockdown just one week earlier - on March 16 instead of March 23, 2020 - would have slashed deaths in the first wave to July "by 48% – equating to approximately 23,000 fewer deaths" in England.
The inquiry found that all four UK governments failed to "appreciate the scale of the threat or the urgency of response" Covid-19 demanded. By the end of January 2020, it "should have been clear that the virus posed a serious and immediate threat," the report states.
"Lost Month" and Government Failures
February 2020 was "a lost month" and the lack of urgency overall in government was "inexcusable," according to the report. The spread of the virus around the world represented "clear warning signs" but governments across the UK did not take the virus seriously enough until it was "too late."
Adviser Dominic Cummings observed that in February, the Cabinet Office and Department of Health "weren't banging alarm bells at this point. Far from it, they were going skiing."
The inquiry heard evidence of a "toxic and chaotic culture" at the centre of UK government throughout the pandemic. Baroness Hallett said Johnson reinforced a culture "in which the loudest voices prevailed and the views of other colleagues, particularly women, often went ignored, to the detriment of good decision-making."
Cummings' Behavior and Johnson's Leadership
Dominic Cummings used "offensive, sexualised and misogynistic" language as he "poisoned" the atmosphere in Downing Street, the report found. Johnson should have "addressed" Cummings' behavior but failed to do so.
The Covid threat was initially treated as a "health issue," and it was "surprising" that a Government Cobra meeting was not chaired by Johnson until March 2. Johnson "should have appreciated sooner that this was an emergency that required prime ministerial leadership to inject urgency into the response," the report states.
Instead, he failed to appreciate the urgency "due to his optimism it would amount to nothing," his "scepticism arising from UK experiences of infectious disease" along with "misleading reassurances" from the Department of Health.
Hancock's Reputation and Policy Failures
As the pandemic unfolded, Matt Hancock "gained a reputation among senior officials and advisers at 10 Downing Street for overpromising and underdelivering."
Early in March, advice to the public was "weak" and focused on hand hygiene and little else. "Face masks were positively discouraged for the public, mass gatherings continued to take place, thereby reinforcing the message that close social contact was approved, and Mr Johnson's optimistic nature frequently undermined the serious message he was meant to convey."
The Eat Out to Help Out scheme was "inconsistent" with public health objectives and was devised "in the absence of any scientific advice." Similar mistakes were then repeated later in 2020 as the second lockdown approached, all of which were "inexcusable."
Parties and Public Confidence
Alcohol-filled parties in Downing Street "undermined public confidence in decision-making" and significantly increased the risk of the public abandoning lockdown rules. They were also a blow to people who had "endured huge personal costs" to stick to the rules – including those "unable to be with their loved ones when they died."
Frequent law changes "fuelled confusion, misunderstanding and – at times – incorrect enforcement." The report notes: "The public – and even the police – struggled to distinguish between government advice and binding legal restrictions."
Impact on Children
The vast majority of children were not at risk of serious direct harm from Covid-19, "but suffered greatly from the closure of schools and requirement to stay at home." Children "were not always prioritised" and the government was not prepared for the "sudden and enormous task" of educating children in their homes "and failed sufficiently."
Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK, which estimates more than 230,000 people died due to "failures by those in power," had called for the inquiry to deliver justice. In a statement, the group said: "We fought for this inquiry because decisions made by political leaders sowed chaos and led to avoidable deaths."
The group added: "For five years, we have waited for this moment. The inquiry has already exposed misconduct and unforgivable ineptitude from the Prime Minister down."
The inquiry also criticized the theory of "behavioural fatigue" – the concept that the public would not adhere to restrictions over a long period – which was promoted by England's chief medical officer, Professor Sir Chris Whitty. Baroness Hallett said the theory has "no grounding in behavioural science."
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
