Delays in UK COVID-19 lockdown resulted in almost 23,000 more deaths: public inquiry

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson led a “toxic,” “chaotic” and slow response to the COVID-19 pandemic, delaying the shutdown of the country that resulted in more than 23,000 deaths, a public inquiry report concluded Thursday.

Britain has recorded more than 230,000 Covid deaths, a death rate similar to the United States and Italy but higher than elsewhere in Western Europe, and it is still recovering from the economic consequences.

An inquiry, which Johnson ordered in May 2021, gave a scathing assessment of his government’s response to the pandemic, criticizing his indecisive leadership, lambasting his Downing Street office for breaking its own rules and criticizing his top adviser, Dominic Cummings.

“There was a toxic and chaotic culture at the heart of the UK government during the pandemic,” the inquiry chair, former judge Heather Hallett, said in her report.

Hallett said Johnson failed to grasp the seriousness of the virus after it emerged in early 2020, believed it would make no sense and was distracted by other government business at the time Britain was embroiled in talks to leave the European Union.

“Mr Johnson should have appreciated early on that this was an emergency that required prime ministerial leadership to bring urgency to the response,” the report said.

Look Johnson apologizes in 2022 after report details lockdown parties:

Boris Johnson apologizes in wake of report detailing lockdown parties

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has apologized after the release of a report that blamed him and senior officials for a series of alcohol-fuelled parties at 10 Downing Street that broke the government’s own COVID-19 lockdown rules.

When he appeared before the committee in 2023, Johnson said his government had been too careless and had “significantly underestimated” the risks, adding that he understood the public’s anger.

Hallett said it was too little, too late when Johnson announced the lockdown on March 23, criticizing the British government and the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The report concluded that if Britain had locked down just a week earlier on March 16, as the consensus of evidence suggests it should, the number of deaths in the first wave by July would have been reduced by about 23,000, or 48 percent.

It said failure to act sooner as cases surged at the end of the year led to further national lockdowns.

Hallett said the investigation showed Johnson struggled with critical decisions, but said he repeatedly changed his mind and failed to make timely decisions despite a clear understanding of the virus.