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Damning report finds more than 20,000 lives could have been spared over spring and summer 2020 had restrictions started just seven days earlier
Tara Cobham,Caitlin Doherty,Kate DevlinFriday 21 November 2025 03:30 GMTComments
CloseCovid inquiry: Government failure to anticipate or plan lockdown led to 23,000 deaths
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The UK’s response to the coronavirus pandemic was “too little, too late”, the chairwoman of the UK Covid-19 Public Inquiry has said.
In a statement read following the release of the inquiry’s latest damning report, Baroness Heather Hallett said: “I can summarise my findings of the response as too little too late.
“All four governments failed to appreciate the scale of the threat or the urgency of response it demanded in the early part of 2020, relying in part on misleading assurances that the UK was properly prepared for a pandemic.”
The bombshell report found Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings reinforced a “toxic and chaotic culture” at the heart of Number 10.
Other conclusions included that a total lockdown could have been avoided in 2020 if restrictions had been introduced sooner, and that more than 20,000 lives could have been spared across that spring and summer had the orders come just seven days earlier.
The findings were published in hundreds of pages across two volumes on Thursday afternoon, covering government decision-making from when the virus first emerged in early 2020 through to early 2022, and painting a picture of chaotic decision-making at the heart of government.
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Key Points
- Covid inquiry chair summarises findings as 'too little too late'
- Johnson and Cummings presided over 'toxic and chaotic culture' at No 10, Covid Inquiry finds
- Sir Keir Starmer says public services still 'not fully recovered' from pandemic
- Boris Johnson 'put his political reputation ahead of public safety', Covid bereaved say
- Sturgeon 'stands by highly precautionary approach'
- What evidence on Boris Johnson and his team did the inquiry hear
Families says lives lost at an 'unprecedented, avoidable scale'
Families who lost loved ones during the Covid-19 pandemic have highlighted the "loss of life at an unprecedented, avoidable scale" after an official inquiry published its report into political decision-making during the crisis.
The second report of the UK Covid-19 Public Inquiry sets out how lives could have been saved and lockdowns may have been avoided if different decisions had been taken.
After the report was published, the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK campaign group was critical of the actions of former prime minister Boris Johnson during the pandemic.
It said in a statement: "The evidence from the inquiry is clear, and while it is vindicating 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.
"We now know that many of our family members would still be alive today if it weren't for the leadership of Boris Johnson and his colleagues.
"As the report has found, the government's approach to the pandemic was undermined from the beginning - if Johnson had listened to scientific advice and locked down even a week earlier, around 23,000 people could have been saved.
"Instead, throughout the pandemic, Boris Johnson put his political reputation ahead of public safety.
"He pandered to his critics when the UK needed decisive action. In delaying lockdowns he made them longer, more damaging to the economy and less effective.
"He ignored scientific advice that didn't fit his agenda, and he ignored the impact of his decisions on the front line, repeating the mistakes of the first wave and prolonging the second.
"To make mistakes is human. To refuse to listen to frontline workers, vulnerable people, the insights of devolved leaders or scientific experts is unforgivable.
"The same arrogance that led those at the heart of government to hold parties while many of us died and grieved alone shaped the government's approach to the pandemic, and led to loss of life at an unprecedented, avoidable scale."
The statement adds: "While we reflect and mourn what could have been, what extra years, days and hours we could have spent with our loved ones, we need to reflect on how we, the public, were left so vulnerable.
"We can't just hope that we have better leaders in the future - the government must implement the safeguards recommended by the inquiry immediately, otherwise we are no safer now than we were during the darkest days in living history."
Shweta Sharma21 November 2025 03:30Watch: Nicola Sturgeon brought to tears during Covid inquiry questioning
Nicola Sturgeon brought to tears during Covid inquiry questioningTara Cobham21 November 2025 03:00Partygate: A timeline of lockdown gatherings
Boris Johnson and his top adviser presided over a "toxic and chaotic culture" in Downing Street that undermined efforts to deal with the pandemic, the Covid Inquiry has found.
Baroness Heather Hallett's report on the response to Covid-19 criticised Mr Johnson's excessive optimism in the face of the looming pandemic and "oscillation" on key lockdown decisions.
And she castigated his chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, as a "destabilising influence" who used "offensive, sexualised and misogynistic" language and "poisoned" the atmosphere in Downing Street.
Here is a look at the events that took place and what Mr Johnson told the Commons about them while he was prime minister:
Partygate: A timeline of lockdown gatherings
Partygate led to ‘self-reported’ reduction in people following lockdown rules over Christmas 2021, report finds Tara Cobham21 November 2025 02:00Watch: Frustrated Boris Johnson loses cool at Covid inquiry
'You try': Frustrated Boris Johnson loses cool at Covid inquiryTara Cobham21 November 2025 01:00The extraordinary Covid WhatsApp messages that reveal the ‘chaos’ inside Boris Johnson’s government
A series of scathing WhatsApp messages sent between Boris Johnson’s top team accused the former prime minister of making it “impossible” to tackle Covid, as he created chaos and changed direction “every day”.
The extraordinary messages sent between the likes of Dominic Cummings, Lee Cain and Simon Case reveal the strong disquiet among Mr Johnson’s advisers, with Mr Case, the cabinet secretary and top civil servant, at one point declaring: “I am at the end of my tether.”
The ex-PM’s top officials also branded him “weak and indecisive” and referred to him as a “trolley”. Chief scientific advisor Sir Patrick Vallance, meanwhile, said Mr Johnson was “all over the place” and “so completely inconsistent”.
Read more here:
The extraordinary Covid WhatsApps that reveal ‘chaos’ of Boris Johnson’s government
Messages sent between Dominic Cummings, Lee Cain and Simon Case lay bare the chaos behind Downing Street’s response to CovidTara Cobham21 November 2025 00:00Lady Hallett finds lives would've been saved if government acted earlier on lockdown
Baroness Heather Hallett said that the governments across the UK had “no choice” but to lock down in March 2020, but said if they acted earlier then lives would have been saved.
“But it was through their own acts and omissions that they had no choice,” the UK Covid-19 Inquiry chairwoman said.
“Also, the failure to lock down earlier may have cost lives.
“Had the lockdown been imposed one week earlier than March 23, the evidence suggests that the number of deaths in England alone in the first wave up until July 1 2020 would have been reduced by 48%.
“That is approximately 23,000 fewer deaths.”
Tara Cobham20 November 2025 23:00Divided Stormont led to ‘chaotic’ Covid response, public inquiry finds
A politically divided Stormont Executive led to “chaotic decision-making” during the Covid-19 pandemic, a public inquiry has concluded.
Baroness Heather Hallett’s report on government responses to Covid found that the political reaction to the public health emergency in Northern Ireland was “deeply divided along political lines and beset by leaks, leading to an incoherent approach”.
The report said the attendance of then deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill at the funeral of veteran republican Bobby Storey in Belfast in June 2020, and her initial refusal to apologise, “contributed to tensions in the Northern Ireland Executive Committee”.
Read more here:
Divided Stormont led to ‘chaotic’ Covid response, public inquiry finds
The report published on Thursday focuses on the core political and administrative decision-making across the UK in response to the pandemic.Tara Cobham20 November 2025 22:00Watch: Government failure to anticipate or plan lockdown led to 23,000 deaths, Covid inquiry finds
Covid inquiry: Government failure to anticipate or plan lockdown led to 23,000 deathsTara Cobham20 November 2025 21:11Editorial: This shameful Covid report leaves no way back for Boris Johnson
Too little, too late” is the summary offered by Heather Hallett herself of the Johnson government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Indeed, and in all fairness, that conclusion also applied to the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
As a result of the various errors of judgement and incompetence displayed by all of the leaders concerned, many thousands of lives were needlessly lost – 23,000 in England alone. In addition – though the chair of the Covid inquiry doesn’t highlight this – countless others have endured the prolonged suffering brought on by long Covid.
It is a damning report, as it was widely expected to be. Everyone who lived through those turbulent and terrifying times will recall the growing sense that the then prime minister, his chief adviser, his health secretary and others were not in control of events.
Read more here:
This shameful Covid report leaves no way back for Boris Johnson
Editorial: That 23,000 people in England alone lost their lives because of the dithering of the former leader is a fitting – and awful – denouement to the political career of a man who was never up to the job of prime ministerTara Cobham20 November 2025 20:00Sturgeon’s ‘gold command’ meetings ‘reduced transparency’, Covid inquiry finds
So-called “gold command” meetings held by Nicola Sturgeon and a small group of ministers and advisers “reduced transparency” during the pandemic, the UK Covid-19 Inquiry has found.
Then first minister Ms Sturgeon met separately during the pandemic with a smaller group outside Cabinet meetings, with the inquiry saying decisions were made which were later ratified by the rest of the ministerial cohort.
Minutes of such meetings were not taken, and the report found that meant it was “difficult to understand the nature and extent of the discussions in these meetings”.
Read more here:
Sturgeon’s ‘gold command’ meetings ‘reduced transparency’, Covid inquiry finds
The former first minister and a small group of ministers and advisers met and made decisions outside the Cabinet.Tara Cobham20 November 2025 19:42Newer1 / 5OlderMore about
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