Covid inquiry report live updates: UK’s pandemic plan failures set to be laid bare, with Brexit likely to be blamed

Leading politicians, scientists and health experts appeared as witnesses in the first module of the inquiry, titled Resilience and Preparedness.

Former health secretaries Matt Hancock and Jeremy Hunt were thrust into the spotlight during the oral evidence sessions, alongside former prime minister Lord Cameron and former health secretary Michael Gove.

Lord Cameron has admitted it was a “mistake” for his government to focus too much on preparing to fight a flu wave rather than a coronavirus-type pandemic.

But he defended the public service austerity programme under his leadership between 2010 and 2016, which doctors and unions accused of leaving the NHS in a “precarious state”.

Mr Hunt admitted to being part of a “groupthink” when he was health secretary, leading to a “narrowness of thinking” that failed to extend the UK’s pandemic preparedness beyond planning for a flu outbreak.

Mr Hancock said it was a “colossal” failure to assume the spread of the virus could not be stopped.

Mr Gove, meanwhile, claimed that planning for a no-deal Brexit had made the UK “better able” to deal with the pandemic. He denied that shifting staff to Brexit-related tasks had had a detrimental effect on pandemic planning when he appeared before the inquiry in July.

Brexit should be at least partly blamed for this problem, as failures to adequately plan for a pandemic in the UK are likely to be laid bare in the Covid-19 inquiry report published today.

The inquiry’s chair, Baroness Heather Hallett, is likely to comment on preparations for personal protective equipment (PPE) and a government focused on Brexit.

The report is also expected to highlight the UK’s focus on preparing for a flu pandemic rather than a coronavirus pandemic.

Lady Hallett could also highlight how austerity measures have led to cuts in public health.

The UK government’s failure to properly prepare for a pandemic is set to be laid bare on Thursday, when the UK’s Covid-19 inquiry publishes its first report.

The inquiry’s chair, Baroness Heather Hallett, will report on the UK’s ability to cope with a deadly outbreak in the run-up to 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic swept across Britain.

The report is expected to highlight the UK’s focus on preparing for a flu pandemic rather than a coronavirus pandemic.

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The first survey module, Resilience and Preparedness, focused on pandemic planning.

The second focused on key decision-making processes and political governance in the UK.

The third examines the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on health systems in the four countries of the UK.

Others look at vaccines and therapies, procurement, the healthcare sector and the “test, trace and isolate” strategy.

The modules announced but not yet opened will focus on children and young people; and on the economic response.

A leading expert says officials should prepare for future pandemic threats by adopting counterterrorism-style approaches.

Professor Liam Smeeth, Director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: “The main lesson from the first report of the UK Covid Inquiry is that if the UK waits for the next pandemic to strike, it will be too late.

“Fighting pandemics is like fighting terrorism: we must use similar approaches, such as collecting and sharing the best information on global disease threats and joining forces to confront outbreaks before they become pandemics.

“Like terrorists, deadly viruses do not respect national borders and can strike anywhere at any time.

“We must work with international partners to combat this global threat: that means not only improving our planning, surveillance and response capacity in the UK, but also supporting those on the frontline fighting outbreaks around the world.”

Academics said the question was not if another pandemic would strike, but rather “when”. It is therefore hoped that the recommendations, if implemented, could put the UK in a better starting position to deal with a new and unknown disease, known to many as Disease X.