Reading the report is pretty sobering, even if you’ve been following the evidence sessions to the inquiry. A few things that stand out: Hesitating over full lockdown “reflected a fatalism about the spread of Covid that should have been robustly challenged at the time.” … The UK made a “serious early error” in not considering a rigorous targeted public health approach to stop the spread of the virus as adopted by many East and South East Asian countries, and preparations were based too heavily on a flu-like illness, rather than zoonotic or novel diseases …
… The machinery of government was ill-equipped to respond, with long-term planning sacrificed to short-term demands … The NHS mobilized “quickly and strongly,” but compared to other health systems it often “runs hot” with little spare capacity to cope with unexpected demand … The NHS Test and Trace system was singled out for its “slow, uncertain and chaotic” performance last year … Existing social, economic and health inequalities were exacerbated … Mistakes in social care, including lack of scientific advice early on, a failure to prioritize PPE for its staff and rapid discharge of patients from hospitals back into homes without proper testing led to “many thousands of deaths which could have been avoided.”