“Failure to recognize risk”Report: Thousands of coronavirus deaths in the UK could have been avoided
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was repeatedly criticized for weak protective measures against the coronavirus. Now a report shows the deaths of more than 20,000 Britons could have been prevented. Prime Minister Starmer promised to review the results.
“Too little, too late”: In its report, the commission of inquiry into Britain’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic came to drastic conclusions. There was chaos in the conservative government at that time. The virus was too late to be taken seriously, says a more than 800-page report outlining the findings of a public inquiry.
All UK governments “failed to recognize the scale of the risk and the disaster that occurred”, the inquiry’s chair, Heather Hallett, told the PA news agency when launching the report. They also made several recommendations for future pandemics.
According to the report, the government’s response to the start of the pandemic in 2020 was too weak. If lockdown had been imposed a week earlier in March 2020, the death toll would have been reduced by around 23,000 people during the first wave of infections in England.
According to information, the first two lockdowns could have been shorter or even avoided if measures such as social distancing had been implemented earlier. There are no lessons learned from early mistakes later on.
Report: Boris Johnson promoting ‘toxic’ culture
Hallett also took former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson into account in his report: At the time, there was a “toxic and chaotic culture” in Downing Street. Johnson’s top adviser at the time, Dominic Cummings, used language that was “offensive, sexualized and misogynistic”. Not only did Johnson hardly oppose this, but he also “actively promoted” this culture in various places.
Johnson, who served as his country’s Prime Minister from 2019 to 2022, has repeatedly been criticized for his hesitant and sometimes chaotic approach to the coronavirus pandemic. He was especially criticized for his role in the Partygate scandal, when parties were celebrated in government centers while the entire country was in lockdown. Johnson has given evidence to the public inquiry.
According to death certificates, around 227,000 people have died of Covid-19 in the UK – far more than in Germany despite its smaller population. Many survivors blame Johnson and his government for the deaths of their loved ones. According to PA, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that he would closely examine the findings of the report.
