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A damning independent investigation into the UK's management to the coronavirus situation determined that the response was "too little, too late," stating that imposing a lockdown only seven days earlier could have spared in excess of 20,000 deaths.

Main Conclusions from the Investigation

Outlined in over 750 sections covering two parts, the results portray a consistent picture showing delay, failure to act and a seeming inability to understand from experience.

The description regarding the onset of Covid-19 in early 2020 has been described as especially critical, calling February as "a lost month."

Government Errors Highlighted

• It raises questions about the reasons why Boris Johnson neglected to convene any session of the Cobra response team in that period.
• Action to the pandemic effectively stopped during the half-term holiday week.
• In the second week of March, the state of affairs had become "little short of disastrous," with a lack of preparation, insufficient testing and therefore no clear picture about the degree to which Covid had spread.

Possible Outcome

Although admitting the fact that the decision to impose confinement proved to be historic as well as exceptionally hard, taking further steps to reduce the transmission of Covid more quickly could have meant such measures might have been avoided, or proved shorter.

By the time a lockdown became unavoidable, the report stated, if implemented imposed a week earlier, modelling showed this could have lowered the number of deaths within England during the initial wave of the pandemic by around half, equating to twenty-three thousand deaths prevented.

The omission to understand the extent of the threat, and the urgency of response it necessitated, meant that by the time the possibility of enforced restrictions was first considered it had become belated and such measures had become unavoidable.

Repeated Mistakes

The inquiry also pointed out how a number of of the same errors – reacting too slowly and downplaying the pace and impact of the virus's transmission – occurred again later in 2020, as measures were lifted and then belatedly reimposed because of contagious mutations.

The report labels such repetition "unjustifiable," noting that those in charge were unable to absorb experience through multiple waves.

Overall Toll

The UK suffered one of the most severe coronavirus crises across Europe, with about 240 thousand Covid-related lives lost.

The inquiry is the latest by the public investigation regarding all aspects of the response and response to the coronavirus, that started two years ago and is expected to run through 2027.