‘Too little, too late’: Former UK government criticized for its initial response to COVID-19

The results of a public inquiry published on Thursday criticized the UK government’s initial response to the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020 as “too little, too late”, and said the failure to lock down the country sooner “led to an unacceptable loss of life”.

The inquiry, chaired by former judge Heather Hallett, found that the chaos at the heart of the then Conservative government and the failure to take COVID-19 seriously potentially cost 23,000 lives in England alone during the first wave of the pandemic.

Hallett’s report into the government’s response to COVID-19, the second of four pandemic issues he is assessing, found that then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson presided over a “toxic” culture in Downing Street and changed his mind regularly, while senior cabinet members, as well as key scientists, failed to act with the urgency needed to tackle the virus.

After weeks of rising cases and days after most other European nations went into lockdown, Johnson announced a UK-wide lockdown on March 23, 2020.

Hallett said the government’s actions, as well as those of the devolved nations (Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) were “too little, too late”.

“If lockdown had been imposed a week before 23 March, the evidence suggests that the number of deaths in England alone in the first wave up to 1 July 2020 would have been reduced by 48%,” Hallett said. “That’s about 23,000 fewer deaths.”

He said the lockdown could have been shorter if it had been introduced earlier.

“At least there would have been time to determine the effect of the restrictions on incidence levels and whether there was a sustained reduction in social contact,” he said.

The UK suffered one of the deadliest COVID-19 outbreaks in Europe, with around 240,000 deaths related to the virus.

The report took aim at several people, including Johnson, accused of being too “optimistic” in his prospects in the early months of 2020.

Hallett said his special adviser, Dominic Cummings, used “offensive, sexualised and misogynistic” language to “poison” the atmosphere at the heart of the government.

The COVID-19 campaign group Bereaved Families for Justice welcomed Hallett’s findings and blamed much of the failings on Johnson, who had been hospitalized with the virus in the early days of the pandemic.

“While it is justifiable to see Boris Johnson blamed in black and white for the catastrophic mishandling of the pandemic, it is devastating to think of the lives that could have been saved under a different Prime Minister,” he said in a statement.

“Throughout the pandemic, Boris Johnson put his political reputation before public safety.”

Hallett is overseeing a national inquiry into all aspects of the handling of the pandemic. The investigation began two years ago and is expected to last until 2027.