Picture courtesy of Keele University, UK.

 

The UK’s slow response to Covid-19 resulted in preventable deaths, according to a comprehensive inquiry report. The released findings reveal that delays in the government's initial pandemic measures resulted in extended lockdowns and thousands of additional fatalities. Baroness Heather Hallett, who chairs the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, harshly criticised the early actions as “too little, too late.”

 

The report suggests that the government’s failure to implement restrictions sooner exacerbated the crisis. With the lockdown introduced on March 23, 2020, starting it a week earlier could have saved at least 23,000 lives.

 

The inquiry criticises all four UK nations for acting too slowly despite evident signs of the virus’s global spread. This slow response, the report argues, made harsh lockdowns unavoidable.

 

A significant focus was on the political dynamics and leadership during the pandemic. Tensions were evident between UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and first ministers from Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, complicating coordination.

 

Johnson’s own conduct, particularly with the “Partygate” scandal, eroded public trust. Hallett described the government’s pandemic management culture as “toxic and chaotic,” which detrimentally affected decision-making processes.

 

Looking forward, the report outlines necessary changes to prevent future crises from escalating similarly. Recommendations include forming a statutory body for pandemic preparedness and conducting regular national exercises to improve crisis response.

 

While commendations were given for the successful vaccine rollout and careful management of lockdown exits, the report criticised the government for overlooking children's needs and exacerbating existing societal inequalities, according to CNN.

 

 

Key Takeaways:

 

• Delayed Covid-19 actions in the UK increased death tolls.
• Early intervention could have lessened lockdown impacts.
• Political tensions and cultural issues hindered effective management.

 

 

  Adapted by ASEAN Now from CNN 2025-11-21

 

 

 

You do well to listen to this!

 

 

His core claim—that there was no pandemic—is contradicted by overwhelming scientific evidence. The COVID-19 pandemic was a real, global health crisis caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, resulting in ~7 million confirmed deaths worldwide (likely under counted) and profound societal impacts.

Pity America did not conduct a similar investigation which surely would have put the Trump administration in the same vein.

Hundreds of thousands of lives lost through sheer incompetence and ignorance of the facts.

Shocking really, but also understandable.  Will 'they' be ready for the next one though?

 

Kudos for the vaccination rollout (Trump too). 👏

I thought the UK did a decent job in the circumstances although I would have preferred borders were shut down harder and sooner.

 

Vaccine rollout was of course helped by being out of the sloth like, inflexible and in-fighting EU. 

 

 

 

11 hours ago, webfact said:

The UK’s slow response to Covid-19 resulted in preventable deaths,

 

Sweden    and the Great Barrington declaration 

https://gbdeclaration.org/

 

Nuff said  no need for anymore multi million pound whitewashing excersises.

4 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

Shocking really, but also understandable.  Will 'they' be ready for the next one though?

 

 

Not really understandable as only 3 years prior to Covid the UK carried out the Cygnus exercise https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exercise_Cygnus

I believe that high lighted every thing that the UK did wrong in 2020. So no excuse. Why carry out a pandemic exercise then ignore it.

5 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

Shocking really, but also understandable.  Will 'they' be ready for the next one though?

 

The whole thing was a military grade syop...

will they be ready for the next one of course they will... 

The UK's slow and ineffective response at the start of COVID was unsurprisingly given Johnson's initial cavalier attitude to the virus. It was only his own brush with death that forced him to focus and take the matter with the seriousness it warranted.

22 hours ago, mikeymike100 said:

His core claim—that there was no pandemic—is contradicted by overwhelming scientific evidence. T

Paid for, by whom? 5555555

2 hours ago, Bagwain said:

Paid for, by whom? 5555555

Excess deaths (the gold standard proving the pandemic's toll) aren't cooked books—they're simple: actual deaths minus historical baselines. Sources? National stats offices (e.g., U.S. CDC, UK's ONS), Eurostat, and the Human Mortality Database (HMD)—a free, academic repo run by universities like UC Berkeley and Germany's Max Planck Institute.

Funded by? Public grants and university budgets, not Big Pharma slush funds.

 

Our World in Data (OWID), which visualizes this for free? Oxford University non-profit, backed by non-partisan donors like the UK’s Nuffield Foundation—no Gates or Pfizer strings attached.

Another 200 million pounds completely wasted and they have learned absolutely nothing from this as they have reverted to flawed inaccurate modeling again instead of using the actual excess death data and comparing against other countries/states who took a different approach.   The pandemic plans for an outbreak like this were meticulously planned in prior decades by cool scientific heads and were thrown in the bin by the panicking idiots in charge in only the second week.  This led to demands from the panicking public to destroy the economy and take away freedoms, destroy kids educations, probably kill more people from heart attacks/cancers due to hospitals becoming a covid only/ TikTok dance service... and all for nothing.  For a worse result than Sweden who didn't do any of these things.

 

So the rich got richer, the poor got poorer, the country got (even more) massively in debt that will take generations to pay back (if ever) and it achieved a higher excess death rate than Sweden. 

17 hours ago, johng said:

 

The whole thing was a military grade syop...

will they be ready for the next one of course they will... 

 

for example

 

On 11/21/2025 at 5:58 PM, Geoff914 said:

Not really understandable as only 3 years prior to Covid the UK carried out the Cygnus exercise https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exercise_Cygnus

I believe that high lighted every thing that the UK did wrong in 2020. So no excuse. Why carry out a pandemic exercise then ignore it.

I guess because Boris was an incompetent buffoon!

I wish they’d give this a rest. I know there was suffering and too many deaths, but nearly every country had the same problems. No one knew what they were up against , and no one knew what to do. Next time, if there is one , they’ll be better advised and more knowledgeable. 

The conclusion about shutdown being too late was correct IMO.

 

That week involved included a major race meeting and a European football match and for weeks, when the USA and New York in particular were really struggling with Covid, LHR was receiving 30 flights daily. 

 

Whatever, it's done now. Surely no-one would envy the pressure Johnson was under at the time. 

2 hours ago, geisha said:

I wish they’d give this a rest. I know there was suffering and too many deaths, but nearly every country had the same problems. No one knew what they were up against , and no one knew what to do. Next time, if there is one , they’ll be better advised and more knowledgeable. 

They did know what they up against. Spanish flu was far more deadly and there had been more recent pandemics but not nearly as deadly. They did the Cygnus exercise to test out their readiness to deal with a pandemic. Plus there was internet panic in December 2019 so they absolutely knew what was coming. So the excuse that they just did know what they were up against doesn't cut it. Next time, if there is one. You can bet your like there will be another one. And I guarantee the Government will run about like headless chickens. 

What diverted the UK Government's focus was getting Brexit done. Only after that did they wake up to Covid.

On 11/21/2025 at 2:35 PM, RayC said:

The UK's slow and ineffective response at the start of COVID was unsurprisingly given Johnson's initial cavalier attitude to the virus. It was only his own brush with death that forced him to focus and take the matter with the seriousness it warranted.

What were the excuses of Wales, N Ireland and Scotland? They've been raked across the coals just as much.

11 hours ago, geisha said:

I wish they’d give this a rest. I know there was suffering and too many deaths, but nearly every country had the same problems. No one knew what they were up against , and no one knew what to do. Next time, if there is one , they’ll be better advised and more knowledgeable. 

 +1

 

Recriminations achieve nothing....................and much pressure was exerted to follow the Swedish herd immunity model 

5 hours ago, youreavinalaff said:

What were the excuses of Wales, N Ireland and Scotland? They've been raked across the coals just as much.

 

I don't know. Maybe the First Ministers of the devolved governments weren't privy to all the information available to Johnson? Maybe they ignored the advice of their advisors? Maybe they were simply incompetent?

 

However, as far I can remember not one of them acted flippantly wrt the crisis and/or publicly undermined the advice of the health professionals by their actions.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/may/05/boris-johnson-boasted-of-shaking-hands-on-day-sage-warned-not-to

13 minutes ago, RayC said:

 

I don't know. Maybe the First Ministers of the devolved governments weren't privy to all the information available to Johnson? Maybe they ignored the advice of their advisors? Maybe they were simply incompetent?

 

However, as far I can remember not one of them acted flippantly wrt the crisis and/or publicly undermined the advice of the health professionals by their actions.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/may/05/boris-johnson-boasted-of-shaking-hands-on-day-sage-warned-not-to

I would suggest you read the report rather than relying on a newspaper report you've cherry picked.

 

You'll then find out the report seriously criticized Nicola Sturgeon for relying too heavily on decisions by central government and waiting too long to put measures into action. Basically playing "wait and see". Measures that were decided upon were done so without input from many fellow ministers and experts.

 

There were similar criticisms regarding policies and actions of the other devolved governments.

You guys shoulda had Trump

 

he saved so many

2 hours ago, youreavinalaff said:

I would suggest you read the report rather than relying on a newspaper report you've cherry picked.

 

You'll then find out the report seriously criticized Nicola Sturgeon for relying too heavily on decisions by central government and waiting too long to put measures into action. Basically playing "wait and see". Measures that were decided upon were done so without input from many fellow ministers and experts.

 

There were similar criticisms regarding policies and actions of the other devolved governments.

 

That may well be true but it is all whataboutery.

 

The point I made (twice) - and will make again - is that at the beginning of the pandemic Johnson displayed a cavalier attitude towards the pandemic. That is highlighted in the Guardian article.

 

Don't you think that by ignoring the advice being given by his own health advisors, and continuing to shake hands with all and sundry, Johnson's actions might have lead to members of the public disregarding the health advice?

31 minutes ago, RayC said:

 

That may well be true but it is all whataboutery.

 

The point I made (twice) - and will make again - is that at the beginning of the pandemic Johnson displayed a cavalier attitude towards the pandemic. That is highlighted in the Guardian article.

 

Don't you think that by ignoring the advice being given by his own health advisors, and continuing to shake hands with all and sundry, Johnson's actions might have lead to members of the public disregarding the health advice?

I asked what the excuses of Scotland, Wales and N Ireland were. You haven't answered. 

 

Whatever Boris Johnson did, the devolved governments had their own voices and choices. It seems they were equally to blame. 

 

It seems your political bias is, once again, getting in the way.

On 11/23/2025 at 6:22 AM, hotandsticky said:

 +1

 

Recriminations achieve nothing....................

You are ok then with the the billions spent on useless track and trace. The hundreds of millions paid out for worthless PPE bought through companies owned by mates of Ministers. Single source suppliers, no tenders. Then of course the hundreds of thousands who died needlessly. Yea right let's sweep the whole thing under the carpet then repeat the same **** up the next time it happens.

6 minutes ago, Geoff914 said:

You are ok then with the the billions spent on useless track and trace. The hundreds of millions paid out for worthless PPE bought through companies owned by mates of Ministers. Single source suppliers, no tenders. Then of course the hundreds of thousands who died needlessly. Yea right let's sweep the whole thing under the carpet then repeat the same **** up the next time it happens.

 

 

Get over it.

 

Government corruption and graft is nothing new...................have you ever been to Thailand?

On 11/20/2025 at 3:17 PM, webfact said:

March 23, 2020, starting it a week earlier could have saved at least 23,000 lives.

Hindsight is always 20/20.

On 11/20/2025 at 5:23 PM, mikeymike100 said:

His core claim—that there was no pandemic—is contradicted by overwhelming scientific evidence. The COVID-19 pandemic was a real, global health crisis caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, resulting in ~7 million confirmed deaths worldwide (likely under counted) and profound societal impacts.

 

Yesss. Trust the scienceeee. I am  sure those death statistics were real and people really died of this novel virus. Thanks Jeff Epstein, the philanthropist of scienceee.

22 hours ago, youreavinalaff said:

I asked what the excuses of Scotland, Wales and N Ireland were. You haven't answered. 

 

Untrue. You asked, I answered.

 

You: "What were the excuses of Wales, N Ireland and Scotland?"

 

Me: "I don't know. Maybe the First Ministers of the devolved governments weren't privy to all the information available to Johnson? Maybe they ignored the advice of their advisors? Maybe they were simply incompetent?"

 

However, I note that you have not answered my questions regarding Johnson's behaviour, which I'll repeat here for ease of reference:

 

"Don't you think that by ignoring the advice being given by his own health advisors, and continuing to shake hands with all and sundry, Johnson's actions might have lead to members of the public disregarding the health advice?"

 

22 hours ago, youreavinalaff said:

Whatever Boris Johnson did, the devolved governments had their own voices and choices.

 

Once again, that may well be correct but it has no relevance to the point which I am making and which I will repeat here again (for the fourth time).

 

Imo, the UK's slow and ineffective response at the start of COVID was unsurprisingly given Johnson's initial cavalier attitude to the virus. It was only his own brush with death that forced him to focus and take the matter with the seriousness it warranted.

 

22 hours ago, youreavinalaff said:

It seems they were equally to blame. 

 

Perhaps, perhaps not.

 

22 hours ago, youreavinalaff said:

It seems your political bias is, once again, getting in the way.

 

Not at all.

 

If you can highlight any leaders who displayed a similar cavalier attitude - be they right, left or centre politically - I will condemn them in the same way as I condemn Johnson for his initial flippant attitude to the pandemic.

 

It is not my political bias which is getting in the way but your willingness to excuse Johnson for yet another of his many flaws.