‘Serious errors’ by ministers and scientific advisers ‘cost thousands of lives’ during pandemic, says report by MPs
Thousands of lives were lost due to delays and mistakes made at the start of the COVID pandemic by both ministers and their scientific advisers according to a highly critical report by MPs.
A pandemic plan based too much on influenza and “groupthink” among public health officials meant early opportunities to delay the spread of COVID were missed, even though lockdowns, testing and isolation strategies were working in other countries, the report found.
“We know that some of that scientific advice was wrong, but also that politicians should have challenged that advice,” Jeremy Hunt, chair of the Health Select Committee, told Sky News.
Jeremy Hunt says politicians should have challenged the advice they were given
“You can’t just say ‘we’re following the science’ – you have to dig down and ask why scientists are saying what they’re saying. That challenge should have happened earlier.”
The key findings of the report include:
– It was a “serious early error” not to lock down sooner
– The decision to abandon testing for COVID in the community early on was a mistake that “cost many lives”
– Failing to prioritise social care and discharging people from hospitals into care homes “led to many thousands of deaths”
– Robust border controls were needed sooner
– There were “serious deficiencies” in communication within government and between central and local government.
According to MPs, “decisions on lockdowns and social distancing during the early weeks of the pandemic – and the advice that led to them – rank as one of the most important public health failures the United Kingdom has ever experienced”.
With more than 135,000 fatalities, the UK has the second-largest COVID-related death toll in Europe, surpassed only by Russia.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
May: Inquiry into handling of COVID to begin 2022
The report is the result of a joint inquiry by the Health and Science Select Committees which began last October and interviewed more than 50 witnesses including former health secretary Matt Hancock, Chief Scientist Sir Patrick Vallance, Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty and former Number 10 adviser Dominic Cummings.
It found that while “herd immunity” was never a policy objective, the idea was pervasive among scientific advisers early on in the outbreak.
This “fatalistic” attitude should have been challenged by officials and helped precipitate other errors.
Likewise, a failure to believe that the British public would accept lockdown helped delay one from being implemented, despite evidence that the NHS was going to be overwhelmed with cases.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
August: Bereaved families on COVID-19 inquiry
But the report also praised key elements of the pandemic response, including the decision to pre-order vaccines even before trials had proved their effectiveness.
MPs also praised the ability of the NHS to absorb the pressures COVID placed on it and the rapid deployment of Nightingale hospitals.
But doctors told Sky News that while the NHS proved it was agile, the impact of the pandemic on frontline services was grave and lasting.
Follow the Daily podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker
“The NHS has survived but in a very broken fashion, and the people who will suffer will be the people of the United Kingdom,” Dr Zudin Puthucheary, an ICU consultant and member of the Intensive Care Society, told Sky News.
A government spokesperson said: “Throughout the pandemic we have been guided by the scientific and medical experts and we never shied away from taking quick and decisive action.
“As the prime minister has said, we are committed to learning lessons from the pandemic and have committed to holding a full public inquiry in spring.”
Politics
Laws may need to be bolstered to crack down on exploitation of child ‘influencers’, senior MP suggests
Laws may need to be strengthened to crack down on the exploitation of child “influencers”, a senior Labour MP has warned.
Chi Onwurah, chair of the science, technology and innovation committee, said parts of the Online Safety Act – passed in October 2023 – may already be “obsolete or inadequate”.
Politics latest: Follow live updates
Experts have raised concerns that there is a lack of provision in industry laws for children who earn money through brand collaborations on social media when compared to child actors and models.
This has led to some children advertising in their underwear on social media, one expert has claimed.
Those working in more traditional entertainment fields are safeguarded by performance laws, which strictly govern the hours a minor can work, the money they earn and who they are accompanied by.
The Child Influencer Project, which has curated the world’s first industry guidelines for the group, has warned of a “large gap in UK law” which is not sufficiently filled by new online safety legislation.
Official portrait of Chi Onwurah.
Pic: UK Parlimeant
The group’s research found that child influencers could be exposed to as many as 20 different risks of harm, including to dignity, identity, family life, education, and their health and safety.
Ms Onwurah told Sky News there needs to be a “much clearer understanding of the nature of child influencers ‘work’ and the legal and regulatory framework around it”.
She said: “The safety and welfare of children are at the heart of the Online Safety Act and rightly so.
“However, as we know in a number of areas the act may already be obsolete or inadequate due to the lack of foresight and rigour of the last government.”
Victoria Collins, the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for science, innovation and technology, agreed that regulations “need to keep pace with the times”, with child influencers on social media “protected in the same way” as child actors or models.
“Liberal Democrats would welcome steps to strengthen the Online Safety Act on this front,” she added.
‘Something has to be done’
MPs warned in 2022 that the government should “urgently address the gap in UK child labour and performance regulation that is leaving child influencers without protection”.
They asked for new laws on working hours and conditions, a mandate for the protection of the child’s earnings, a right to erasure and to bring child labour arrangements under the oversight of local authorities.
However, Dr Francis Rees, the principal investigator for the Child Influencer Project, told Sky News that even after the implementation of the Online Safety Act, “there’s still a lot wanting”.
“Something has to be done to make brands more aware of their own duty of care towards kids in this arena,” she said.
Dr Rees added that achieving performances from children on social media “can involve extremely coercive and disruptive practices”.
“We simply have to do more to protect these children who have very little say or understanding of what is really happening. Most are left without a voice and without a choice.”
Read more from Sky News:
Four killed as cable car crashes to ground near Naples
Two dead and five injured in shooting at Florida university
The researcher pointed to one particular instance, in which children were advertising an underwear brand on social media.
She said: “The kids in the company’s own marketing material or their own media campaigns are either pulling up the band of the underwear underneath their clothing, or they’re holding the underwear up while they’re fully clothed.
“But whenever you look at any of the sponsored content produced by families with children – mum, dad, and child are in their underwear.”
Dr Rees said it is “night and day” in terms of how companies are behaving when they have responsibility for the material, versus “the lack of responsibility once they hand it over to parents with kids”.
One of Arizona’s crypto reserve bills has been passed by the House and is now one successful vote away from heading to the governor’s desk for official approval.
Arizona’s Strategic Digital Assets Reserve Bill (SB 1373) was approved on April 17 by the House Committee of the Whole, which involves 60 House members weighing in on the bill before a third and final reading and a full floor vote.
SB 1373 seeks to establish a Digital Assets Strategic Reserve Fund made up of digital assets seized through criminal proceedings to be managed by the state’s treasurer.
Arizona’s treasurer would be permitted to invest up to 10% of the fund’s total monies in any fiscal year in digital assets. The treasurer would also be able to loan the fund’s assets in order to increase returns, provided it doesn’t increase financial risks.
However, a Senate-approved SB 1373 may be set back by Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, who recently pledged to veto all bills until the legislature passes a bill for disability funding.
Hobbs also has a history of vetoing bills before the House and has vetoed 15 bills sent to her desk this week alone.
Arizona is the new leader in the state Bitcoin reserve race
SB 1373 has been passing through Arizona’s legislature alongside the Arizona Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Act (SB 1025), which only includes Bitcoin (BTC).
The bill proposes allowing Arizona’s treasury and state retirement system to invest up to 10% of the available funds into Bitcoin.
SB 1025 also passed Arizona’s House Committee of the Whole on April 1 and is awaiting a full floor vote.
Related: Binance helps countries with Bitcoin reserves, crypto policies, says CEO
Utah passed Bitcoin legislation on March 7 but scrapped the cornerstone provision establishing the Bitcoin reserve in the final reading.
The Texas Senate passed a Bitcoin reserve bill on March 6, while a similar bill recently passed through New Hampshire’s House.
Magazine: Crypto ‘more taboo than OnlyFans,’ says Violetta Zironi, who sold song for 1 BTC
Slovenia’s Finance Ministry is considering a possible 25% tax on crypto trading profits for residents in the country under a new draft law now open for public consultation.
The bill proposes to tax traders when they sell their cryptocurrency for fiat or pay for goods and services, but crypto-to-crypto and transfers between wallets owned by the same user will be exempt, Slovenia’s Finance Ministry said in an April 17 statement.
Under the proposed legislation, crypto tax will be aligned with existing tax laws. Slovenia taxpayers will be required to keep a record of all their transactions for annual tax returns. The tax base would be calculated on profits by subtracting the purchase price from the sale price.
In a statement to the Slovenia Times, finance minister Klemen Boštjančič said it’s unreasonable that crypto trading for individuals isn’t currently taxed in the country.
“The goal of taxation of crypto assets is not to generate tax revenue, but we find it illogical and unreasonable that one of the most speculative financial instruments is not taxed at all,” he said in a statement translated from Slovenian.
New tax could stifle crypto in Slovenia, lawmaker says
Jernej Vrtovec, a member of Slovenia’s national assembly and New Slovenia opposition party, slammed the proposal in an April 16 statement to X, arguing it could stifle crypto growth in the country.
“Slovenia has the opportunity to become a crypto-friendly country, but with the government’s proposals, we will miss the train again,” he said in a post also translated from Slovenian.
“With excessive taxation, we will once again see young people and capital fleeing abroad. Taxes should encourage, not stifle.”
The proposal is open to public consultation until May 5. If Slovenian lawmakers pass the bill, it will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2026.
Slovenia introduced a 10% tax on crypto withdrawals and payments in 2023, but capital gains from occasional crypto trading are not taxed, according to the crypto tax platform Token Tax.
Related: NFT trader faces prison for $13M tax fraud on CryptoPunk profits
Crypto activity can also currently be exempt from tax if it’s considered a hobby. Business activity, such as mining or staking, is subject to income tax.
A previous bill proposed in April 2022 planned to levy a 5% tax on profits over 10,000 euros ($11,372), but it was never passed into law.
Slovenia issued the first digital sovereign bond in the European Union on July 25 last year. It had a nominal size of 30 million euros ($32.5 million) with a 3.65% coupon and a maturity date of Nov. 25 that year.
The number of crypto users in Slovenia is projected to reach roughly 98,000 in 2025, according to online data platform Statista, with a penetration rate of 4.6% among its population of 2.12 million people. While the projected revenue for the country’s crypto market is slated to hit $2.8 million.
Magazine: How crypto laws are changing across the world in 2025
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway