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An damning independent inquiry into the UK's handling of the Covid situation determined that the reaction were "inadequate and belated," noting how enacting restrictions just one week sooner would have saved over 23,000 lives.

Primary Results of the Report

Documented through over seven hundred fifty documents spanning two reports, the findings depict a consistent narrative showing delay, inaction and an apparent failure to learn from experience.

The narrative about the onset of Covid-19 at the beginning of 2020 has been described as particularly harsh, calling the month of February as "a month of inaction."

Official Shortcomings Emphasized

• It raises questions about why the UK leader neglected to lead a single session of the Cobra emergency committee during February.
• Action to the pandemic largely paused during the mid-term vacation.
• By the second week in March, the circumstances had become "little short of catastrophic," with no proper strategy, a lack of testing and therefore no understanding regarding the degree to which the virus had circulated.

Possible Outcome

While acknowledging the fact that the choice to enforce restrictions proved to be unprecedented and hugely difficult, enacting additional measures to reduce the spread of the virus more quickly would have allowed a lockdown could have been prevented, or have been less lengthy.

By the time restrictions was inevitable, the report went on, if it had been introduced on March 16, estimates indicated that could have reduced the count of deaths across England during the initial wave of the pandemic by around half, which equals 23,000 lives saved.

The omission to recognize the extent of the threat, and the need for measures it demanded, resulted in that by the time the possibility of enforced restrictions was first considered it was already belated so that a lockdown became necessary.

Repeated Mistakes

The inquiry further highlighted how several similar mistakes – reacting with delay as well as underestimating the pace together with impact of the virus's transmission – occurred again later in 2020, when restrictions were lifted and then delayed reintroduced because of spreading new strains.

It labels this "unjustifiable," stating that the government did not to absorb experience over repeated waves.

Total Impact

The United Kingdom experienced among the most severe Covid crises across Europe, recording around 240 thousand virus-related lives lost.

The inquiry is another from the national inquiry into every element of the response as well as handling to the coronavirus, that started two years ago and is expected to run until 2027.