Boris Johnson is under mounting pressure to set a date for a public inquiry into the Government's handling of Covid-19.
The Prime Minister faces calls from Labour, top scientists and bereaved families to reflect on the government’s failures and mistakes, a year on from the decision to put the UK in lockdown.
Mr Johnson yesterday (TUE) expressed his “condolences” to those who lost loved ones during the pandemic - observing a private minute’s silence in memory of those who have died.
But it came amid fresh warnings that a third wave of the virus tearing through Europe could land on our shores just as the Government plans to relax lockdown rules.
Professor Chris Whitty said another surge in cases was “inevitable”.
But Mr Johnson said he hoped to be able to outline new international travel advice by April 5 - a week earlier than previously planned.
"A lot of people do want to know about what's going to happen on the holiday front and I know there's a great deal of curiosity and interest,” the Prime Minister told a Downing Street briefing.
"All I can say is it's just too early to say and my advice is to everybody to wait for the global travel task force to report.
"We've heard already that there are other European countries where the disease is now rising so things certainly look difficult for the time being but we will be able to say more we hope in a few days' time, I certainly hope to say more by April 5."
A further 112 people died after testing positive for the virus, bringing the UK total to 126,284.
And as of 9am on Tuesday, there had been a further 5,379 lab-confirmed cases in the UK - bringing the total to 4,307,304.
Keir Starmer piled pressure on the Prime Minister to reflect on his government’s mistakes in handling the virus.
The Labour leader said he wanted to know why ministers were "very slow to react" to the crisis.
He said: "We owe both the NHS staff and those on the front line and all the families of those who have died to learn the lessons of the last 12 months, to have an inquiry and to learn what went wrong to make sure we never repeat that.
“I think the Government was very slow to react. They were slow in the first wave, slow to go into lockdown, very slow with protective equipment to the front line.
“But then we went into the second wave and instead of learning the lessons they repeated the mistakes: too slow, not getting communications right and in the end in the second wave we had more deaths than in the first wave and I think there are some very, very important lessons there."
But while he admitted there were “many things” he’d do differently in hindsight, the Prime Minister wouldn’t commit to a date for an inquiry during tonight's Downing Street briefing.
Asked if he regrets not putting the UK into lockdown sooner - either last March or last November - the PM said: “These are very hard decisions and there are no good outcomes either way.
"All these consequences are very tough for people and all I can say is we took all the decisions with the interest of the British people foremost in our hearts and in an effort to protect the public and prevent death and suffering.
"Though doubtless there will be a moment to properly review, to learn lessons for future pandemics of a kind which I'm sure there will be."
He said the biggest “false assumption” made during the early days of the pandemic was about the virus transmitting without symptoms.
But Sage documents show Ministers were warned as early as January 2020 that asymptomatic transmission was taking place.
And by March, the World Health Organisation estimated some 80% of Coronavirus infections were "mild or asymptomatic."
And while he would not commit to a date for an inquiry, he promised there would be a “fitting and permanent” memorial to those who have died “when the time is right.”
Virus expert Professor Neil Ferguson - whose scientific modelling was key to the decision to place the UK in lockdown last March - said an inquiry should start "in the next few months".
He told the BBC: “Frankly we need an inquiry to properly go through both the advice at the time but also what was going in within Government at the time to address the issue about why we didn't lock down a week or two weeks earlier."
He added "it is probably better to get initial conclusions from it sooner rather than later, an inquiry which lasts three years - the risk is in three years' time people's concerns will have moved on and it's less likely to actually effect real change".
Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, a campaign group calling for a public inquiry, say their members have asked for a meeting with the Prime Minister on six occasions without success.
“Condolences are not the same as answers or ensuring that lessons are learnt from our loved ones passing,” the group Tweeted.
And Rachel Reeves, Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Office Minister said: “As we've reach the tragic milestone of a year since the first lockdown, we have all been trying to comprehend the scale of loss over the last year.
"We owe to those whose lives have been lost, and the many bereaved, to learn lessons from what has happened, and start the public inquiry once we've reached the end of the roadmap."
Number 10 insisted lessons had been learned by the Government during the course of the pandemic.
But the Prime Minister’s official spokesman refused to set a date for the inquiry.
He said: "As the Prime Minister has said there will be a time in future when we look back and look at the pandemic and how it was handled.
“But at the moment the Prime Minister remains focused on tackling it and moving through the different stages of the road map as well as rolling out the vaccine programme to more and more people."
Mr Johnson is set to face down Tory lockdown sceptics at a meeting of the 1922 committee of backbenchers.
The PM needs to convince them to back the renewal of emergency Covid-19 laws in a Commons vote later this week.
But he faced fresh anger from rebels over plans to legally require care home workers to be vaccinated and for foreign holidays to continue being outlawed until at least June 30.
Professor Chris Whitty, England’s Chief Medical Officer, warned there would still be “bumps and twists on the road” out of the pandemic.
Speaking at a public health conference organised by the Local Government Association and Association of Directors of Public Health, he said: “There will definitely be another surge at some point, whether it's before winter or in the next winter, we don't know.
"Variants are going to cause problems, there will be stock-outs of vaccines and no doubt there will be multiple problems at a national level but also at a local level - school outbreaks, prison outbreaks, all the things that people are dealing with on a daily basis."
Professor Whitty later told the Downing Street briefing Covid-19 will remain with us "for the foreseeable future" - and that the chances of eradicating it entirely were “as close to zero as makes no difference.”
Meanwhile, a Sage scientist warned there was a "likelihood" of a third wave of the virus in the summer.
Professor Calum Semple told Sky News: "The concern at present is that in countries where there's less vaccination and a very strong third wave, that's the perfect breeding ground for further variants of concern.
“So, at this point, Britain has got its act together, the concern is as this third wave is going on elsewhere, that will generate new variations.
“Even within Britain there is a likelihood of a third wave in potentially July and August time when we do unlock society."
