The Latest Breaking News on Patrick Vallance concerned at Government’s ‘operational response’ during Covid

Britain's former health secretary has told an official inquiry that the U.K. was ill-prepared for a pandemic partly because government resources had been diverted away from pandemic planning to brace for a possibly chaotic no-deal Brexit

The former health secretary told the Covid inquiry he took his role as ‘principle responder’ to a pandemic ‘very seriously’.

The former health secretary is giving evidence to Module 1 of the hearing, which is looking at pandemic preparedness.

Former health secretary says he is ‘profoundly sorry’ for every death and says he knows an apology from him will be ‘hard to take’

Campaigners say mechanism is needed to ensure public inquiry recommendations are not ignored

Royal College of Nursing (RCN) infection control lead Rosemary Gallagher told the Inquiry: 'We know that we went into the pandemic with a significant shortage, about 50,000 nurses short'

Government knew in 2016 that major disease outbreak would overwhelm health system, documents suggest

From Tuesday the NHS will stop automatically contacting immunosuppressed patients who test positive for Covid - a move alarmed MPs say will cost more lives.

Politicians, top scientists and medics have given evidence to the Covid Inquiry so far, as it kicked off its investigation with a focus on how well the UK was prepared for the arrival of the virus