Eight shock findings over how UK failed to properly deal with Covid pandemic

Serious errors and delays at the hands of the Government and even scientific advisers cost lives during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a damning report from MPs.

The study, from the cross-party Science and Technology Committee and the Health and Social Care Committee, said the UK’s preparation for a pandemic was far too focused on flu, while ministers waited too long to push through lockdown measures in early 2020.

In a wide-ranging report, MPs said the UK’s pandemic planning was too “narrowly and inflexibly based on a flu model” that failed to learn the lessons from Sars, Mers and Ebola.

Here are eight key findings from the report:

The Covid pandemic has put intense pressure on the NHS (Getty Images)

Preparedness

The Government's pandemic planning was too "narrowly and inflexibly" based on a flu model that failed to learn the lessons from Sars, Mers and Ebola. The national risk register predicted that the likelihood of an emerging infectious disease spreading within the UK was lower than that of a flu pandemic, with only up to 100 people dying. The report recommended that experts from abroad should help draw up plans while specialists should "scan the horizon" for future threats. Army logistics experts should play a "more central role" in preparing for pandemics.

Herd immunity

While allowing people to become infected early on to reach herd immunity was not an official Government strategy, there was a "policy approach of fatalism" about the spread of the virus. This led to a strategy of only trying to moderate the speed of infection through the population - flattening the curve - rather than stopping its spread. SAGE experts believed completely suppressing the virus would cause a second peak.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson at Downing Street during the crisis (Getty Images)

Lockdowns

Ministers took a "gradual and incremental approach" to restrictions such as social distancing, isolation and lockdowns and MPs said it was "astonishing" that it took so long for them to realise this was a "catastrophically" wrong decision that would dramatically increase the death toll. There was a false belief the public would not accept a lockdown and lack of testing meant there was little data on Covid spread. Ministers ignored scientific advice for a two-week circuit breaker in autumn which could have saved thousands of lives and meant there was a month-long lockdown - apart from schools - in November instead. The PM announced a third lockdown on January 4 2021.

Restrictions

The Government was too slow to bring in self-isolation rules while "light-touch" border controls only on countries with high Covid rates meant the arrival of more cases from countries like France and Spain. Regional tiers brought in last October were not "watertight" enough to prevent infection spreading. Scientific evidence for measures like the 10pm curfew on pubs was lacking. Tougher social distancing measures last autumn could have stopped the spread of the Alpha variant across the country and saved more lives.

Representatives from Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice pose for photographs outside 10 Downing Street holding photos of their deceased relatives after meeting Boris Johnson at Downing Street on September 28, 2021 in London (Getty Images)

Social care

Social care had a "less prominent" voice in Government in the early stages of the pandemic than did the NHS. The decision not to test people being discharged from hospitals to care homes early on was a failure and led to deaths in care homes. Staff shortages, the lack of testing and difficulties in obtaining PPE all hampered isolation and infection control. The social care sector remains drastically in need of funding and reform - or it will be at risk from future pandemics.

Health inequalities

There were "unacceptably high death" rates among people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, the MPs concluded. "Increased exposure to Covid as a result of people's housing and working conditions played a significant role". BAME staff in the NHS, often in more junior positions, faced greater difficulty getting appropriate PPE equipment. There were also disproportionately high mortality rates among people with learning difficulties and autism - in part because of pre-existing health conditions but also difficulties accessing care. "The experience of the covid pandemic underlines the need for an urgent and long term strategy to tackle health inequalities," they concluded.

Chief Medical Officer for England Chris Whitty and Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance walk outside Downing Street in London, Britain, September 30, 2020 (REUTERS)

Testing

The "slow, uncertain, and often chaotic" performance of the £38 billion test, trace and isolate system severely hampered the UK's response to the pandemic, the MPs found. Test and trace failed in its stated objective to prevent future lockdowns - despite vast quantities of taxpayers' money. The report concluded were it not for the NHS vaccines programme further lockdown restrictions would have been needed in summer 2021.

Vaccines

MPs praised ministers for identifying that a vaccine would be a long-term route out of the pandemic and chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance for setting up the Vaccines Taskforce to procure jabs. The Government was right to support vaccine research and development, including the Oxford AstraZeneca jab, while the NHS successfully handled the roll-out of the programme, with over 80% of the adult population jabbed by September 2021. But the conclusion that the vaccine programme has "redeemed" many of the Government's other failings - which resulted in 150,000 deaths - will be controversial.