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An harsh official report concerning Britain's response of the coronavirus crisis has found which the reaction were "inadequate and belated," declaring how implementing a lockdown just seven days sooner might have saved more than 20,000 lives.

Key Findings from the Inquiry

Documented across more than seven hundred and fifty pages covering two parts, the findings paint a consistent story showing delay, inaction and an evident failure to absorb from mistakes.

The account regarding the start of the pandemic at the beginning of 2020 is particularly harsh, describing the month of February as "a lost month."

Official Shortcomings Emphasized

• It questions why the then prime minister did not to chair any gathering of the emergency response team in that period.
• The response to Covid effectively stopped over the mid-term vacation.
• By the second week of March, the situation had become "almost calamitous," due to inadequate plan, insufficient testing and therefore no clear picture of how far the virus had circulated.

What Could Have Been

Even though acknowledging that the move to impose restrictions was without precedent as well as hugely difficult, taking additional measures to curb the circulation of coronavirus sooner might have resulted in a lockdown may not have been necessary, or at least have been less lengthy.

When confinement became unavoidable, the report went on, if implemented imposed on 16 March, estimates showed this could have reduced the total of deaths across England in the earliest phase of Covid by almost half, equating to 23,000 deaths prevented.

The inability to recognize the magnitude of the risk, and the urgency for action it demanded, resulted in that when the chance of compulsory confinement was first considered it was already too late and such measures had become inevitable.

Repeated Mistakes

The report additionally highlighted that many similar mistakes – reacting belatedly and underestimating the pace together with consequences of Covid’s spread – occurred again subsequently in 2020, when measures were lifted and then delayed restored due to infectious new strains.

The report calls such repetition "inexcusable," adding how the government failed to absorb experience during multiple phases.

Final Count

Britain suffered among the worst pandemic crises across Europe, recording about 240 thousand pandemic lives lost.

This investigation represents the second by the national investigation regarding every element of the response and management to the coronavirus, that began in previous years and is due to continue until 2027.