All four UK governments failed to appreciate the scale of the threat posed by COVID-19 or the urgency of the response the pandemic required, a damning report published on Thursday has claimed.

Baroness Heather Hallett, the chair of the inquiry, described the response to the pandemic as “too little, too late”.

Tens of thousands of lives could have been saved during the first wave of COVID-19 had a mandatory lockdown been introduced a week earlier, the inquiry also found.

Noting how a “lack of urgency” made a mandatory lockdown “inevitable”, the report references modelling data to claim there could have been 23,000 fewer deaths during the first wave in England had it been introduced a week earlier.

The UK government first introduced advisory restrictions on 16 March 2020, including self-isolation, household quarantine and social distancing.

Had these measures been introduced sooner, the report states, the mandatory lockdown which followed from 23 March might not have been necessary at all.

COVID-19 first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of 2019, and as it developed into a worldwide pandemic, the UK went in and out of unprecedented lockdown measures for two years starting from March 2020.

Lady Hallett admitted in her summary that politicians in the government and devolved administrations were forced to make decisions where “there was often no right answer or good outcome”.

“Nonetheless,” she said, “I can summarise my findings of the response as ‘too little, too late'”.

‘Toxic culture’ at the heart of UK government

The report said there was “a toxic and chaotic culture” at the heart of the UK government during the pandemic.

The inquiry heard evidence about the “destabilising behaviour of a number of individuals” – including former No 10 adviser Dominic Cummings.

It said that by failing to tackle this chaotic culture – “and, at times, actively encouraging it” – former PM Boris 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”.

‘Misleading assurances’

The inquiry found all four governments in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland failed to understand the urgency of response the pandemic demanded in the early part of 2020.

The report reads: “This was compounded, in part, by misleading assurances from the Department of Health and Social Care and the widely held view that the UK was well prepared for a pandemic.”

The report notes how the UK government took a “high risk” when it significantly eased restrictions in England in July 2020 – “despite scientific advisers’ concerns about the public health risks of doing so”.

Lady Hallett has made 19 key recommendations which, if followed, she believes will better protect the UK in any future pandemic and improve decision-making in a crisis.

Repeated failings ‘inexcusable’

In a statement following the publication of Thursday’s report, Lady Hallett said there was a “serious failure” by all four governments to appreciate the level of “risk and calamity” facing the UK.

She said: “The tempo of the response should have been increased. It was not. February 2020 was a lost month.”

Read more:
A timeline of the UK’s response to the pandemic

Lady Hallett said the inquiry does not advocate for national lockdowns, which she said should have been avoided if at all possible.

She said: “But to avoid them, governments must take timely and decisive action to control a spreading virus. The four governments of the UK did not.”

Lady Hallett said none of the governments were adequately prepared for the challenges and risks that a lockdown presented, and that many of the same failings were repeated later in 2020, which she said was “inexcusable”.

She added: “Each government had ample warning that the prevalence of the virus was increasing and would continue to do so into the winter months. Yet again, there was a failure to take timely and effective action.”

This scathing report goes a long way to answer the UK COVID-19 Inquiry’s critics, who have consistently attacked it as a costly waste of time.

They tried to undermine inquiry chair Lady Hallet’s attempt to understand what went wrong and how we might do better, and portray it as a lame exercise that would achieve very little.

Well, we now know that Boris Johnson’s “toxic and chaotic” government could well have prevented at least 23,000 deaths had they acted sooner and with greater urgency.

Follow latest: All four UK governments ‘failed to appreciate’ scale of COVID pandemic threat

The response was “too little, too late”. And nobody in power truly understood the scale of the emerging threat or the urgency of the response it required.

The grieving families who lost loved ones in the pandemic want answers. They want names. And they want accountability.

But that is beyond the remit of this inquiry.

Read more:
‘Toxic and chaotic culture’ at centre of UK government during the pandemic
A timeline of the UK’s response to the pandemic
Everything you need to know about the COVID inquiry

The publication of the report into Module 2 of the inquiry will bring them no comfort, it may even cause them more distress.

But it will bring them closer to understanding why the UK’s response to this unprecedented health crisis was so poor.

We can easily identify the “advisers and ministers whose alleged rule breaking caused huge distress and undermined public confidence”.

And we know who was in charge of the Department of Health and Social Care as it misled the public by giving the impression that the UK was well prepared for the pandemic when it clearly was not.

Fresh yellow weather warnings for ice have been issued for many areas of the UK, as some areas are threatened with blizzard conditions on Thursday.

An amber warning for snow – covering northeast England, including Scarborough, Whitby and parts south of Middlesbrough – is in force until 9pm on Thursday.

UK weather latest: Blizzard warning for amber area

The Met Office said there could be “significant snow accumulations” over the North York Moors and parts of the Yorkshire Wolds with up to 25cm (10ins) on hills above 100m (330ft).

“Gusty winds, giving occasional blizzard conditions, and perhaps a few lightning strikes, may accompany some of the showers, posing as additional hazards,” the warning added.

Some A-roads in North Yorkshire were reported to be “gridlocked”, according to Shingi Mararike, Sky News’ North of England correspondent, but he added gritters are out to deal with the bad weather.

Snow ploughs have been hard at work on the North York Moors and a thick coat of snow is covering the A169 between Pickering and Whitby.

Dozens of schools have been closed in North Yorkshire and Scotland.

A number of yellow warnings are also in force for snow and/or ice across large parts of Britain.

In many of the warnings issued by the Met Office, there are concerns that where “showers persist and/or snow partially thaws and then refreezes overnight, this will bring a risk of ice”.

Jo Wheeler, Sky’s weather presenter, said clear skies will allow temperatures to tumble again as Thursday night approaches, “with an early and severe frost expected, and the associated risk of icy stretches on untreated roads and pavements”.

Coldest night so far

Overnight Wednesday into Thursday was the coldest of the season so far, according to the Met Office.

Temperatures dropped as low as -6.6C (20F) in Benson, Oxfordshire. There were two -6.4C (20F) temperatures recorded in Wales (in Sennybrigde) and in Scotland (Dundreggan).

While in Northern Ireland it fell to -2.8C (27F) in Altnahinch Filters.

Cold health alerts in force

As well as the one amber weather warning covering parts of the UK, there are two amber health alerts in place in three areas of England from the UK’s Health Security Agency.

An amber health alert is designed to prepare health services, including for the potential for a rise in deaths among the over-65s and people with health conditions.

The alerts are in effect in North East and North West England, along with the Yorkshire and the Humber region until 8am on 22 November.

Yellow cold-health alerts are in place for the rest of England and also expire at the same point.

Walk like a penguin

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) is recommending that people should walk like penguins to avoid dangerous slips and trips on icy surfaces.

The technique, which went viral in previous winters, is back for 2025 as part of the health board’s winter campaign.

Laura Halcrow, falls prevention lead at NHSGGC, said: “It might look funny, but waddling really works. A slip on ice can cause painful injuries and even hospital stays, especially for older people.”

Turning wet and windy

Sky’s weather presenter, Jo Wheeler, adds that the forecast is set to change this weekend.

“We’ll trade the cold sunshine and wintry showers for wet and windy conditions with rain turning heavy as it crosses the country on Saturday.”

“The British weather, fickle as always, looks like delivering a brief change to this milder westerly flow followed by an equally quick change back to a chilly northerly flow.”