Senior scientists and officials including Johnson are expected to appear as witnesses. It will investigate the U.K.’s preparedness for a pandemic, how the government responded and what lessons can be learned for the future. The inquiry is due to hold hearings until 2026. Johnson agreed in late 2021 to hold an inquiry after pressure from bereaved families. Retired judge Heather Hallett, who is leading the inquiry, praised the families’ “dignified vigil.” She said the inquiry was taking place “on their behalf and on behalf of the millions who suffered and continue to suffer” because of COVID-19.īritain’s pandemic death toll is one of the highest in Europe, and the decisions of then Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government have been endlessly debated. The first day of public hearings began with a 17-minute video in which people described the devastating impact of the pandemic on them and their loved ones. “Were those terrible consequences inexorable, or were they avoidable or capable of mitigation?”Ī group of people who lost relatives to COVID-19 held pictures of their loved one outside the inquiry venue, an anonymous London office building. “The key issue is whether that impact was inevitable,” Keith said. He said that COVID-19 had been recorded as a cause of death for 226,977 people in the U.K. Lawyer Hugo Keith, who is counsel to the inquiry, said the coronavirus pandemic had brought “death and illness on an unprecedented scale” in modern Britain. government’s handling of the response to COVID-19 opened Tuesday by asking if some suffering and death could have been avoided with better planning - and whether Britain’s complex, protracted exit from the European Union distracted authorities from preparing for potential threats. ![]() (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)(AP/Alastair Grant)LONDON (AP) - A mammoth three-year public inquiry into the U.K. A mammoth three-year public inquiry into the British response to the coronavirus pandemic opens Tuesday, with an opening section investigating whether suffering and death could have avoided with better planning. Business & Finance Click to expand menu.įlowers are seen at the The National Covid Memorial Wall dedicated to those who died during the coronavirus pandemic in London, Tuesday, June 13, 2023.
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