A damning official report into the UK's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic has concluded that the response was 'too little, too late', with a lockdown introduced a week earlier potentially saving more than 20,000 lives. The report, spanning over 750 pages, criticises a 'toxic and chaotic' culture inside Boris Johnson's Downing Street, which it says the then prime minister actively embraced.
The inquiry found that February 2020 was a 'lost month', with Johnson failing to chair a single Cobra emergency committee meeting and the response effectively halting during the half-term holiday. Modelling suggests that imposing a lockdown on 16 March, a week earlier than it happened, could have cut deaths in England's first wave by almost half, equating to 23,000 lives saved.
The report also highlights repeated failures later in 2020, as restrictions were lifted and then belatedly reimposed in the face of new variants, calling this 'inexcusable'. It criticises the 'culture of fear' inside No 10, with Dominic Cummings central to this, and notes that women were sidelined. The devolved governments are also criticised for errors in communication and response.
The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK group said the report showed Johnson had repeatedly delayed, ignored advice and 'put his political reputation ahead of public safety'. The report also targets Chris Wormald, now cabinet secretary, for failing to correct the 'over-enthusiastic impression' of the health department's work given by Matt Hancock.
