COVID-19: ‘Mass mistakes’ by ministers and scientific advisors ‘cost thousands of lives’ during pandemic, says MPs report | politics news

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Thousands of lives have died due to delays and mistakes made at the start of the COVID pandemic by both ministers and their scientific advisors according to a very important report by Members of Parliament.

The report concluded that a pandemic plan built too much on influenza and “groupthink” among public health officials meant early opportunities to delay the spread of COVID were missed, even though lockdown, testing and isolation strategies were working in other countries.

“We know some of this scientific advice was wrong, but also politicians should have challenged that advice,” Jeremy Hunt, chair of the Health Select Committee, told Sky News.

Photo: Jeremy Hunt says politicians should have defied the advice they were given

“You can’t just say ‘we follow the science’ – you have to dig deep and ask why scientists say what they say. This challenge should have happened earlier.”

The main findings of the report include:

– It was a “serious early mistake” not to lock it sooner

The decision to forgo COVID testing in the community early on was a mistake that “killed many people”

Failure to prioritize social care and dismissal of people from hospitals to care homes “resulted in several thousand deaths”

– Strict border controls were needed sooner

– There were “serious deficiencies” in communication within the government and between central and local government.

According to MPs, “the decisions on lockdown and social distancing during the early weeks of the pandemic – and the advice that led to them – are among the most significant public health failures the UK has ever seen”.

With more than 135,000 deaths, the UK has the second highest number of COVID-related deaths in Europe, surpassed only by Russia.

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The report is the result of a joint investigation by the Health and Science Select Committees that began last October and interviewed more than 50 witnesses including former Health Secretary Matt Hancock, Chief Scientist Sir Patrick Vallance, Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty and former No. 10 Adviser Dominic Cummings.

It found that although “herd immunity” was never a policy goal, the idea was popular among scientific advisors early in the outbreak.

Officials should have challenged this “forced” attitude and helped precipitate other mistakes.

Likewise, the failure to believe the British public would accept the lockdown helped delay its implementation, despite evidence the NHS would have been mired in cases.

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But the report also praised key elements of the pandemic response, including the decision to pre-order vaccines even before trials prove effective.

Representatives also praised the ability of the National Health Service to absorb the pressures imposed on it by the Corona virus, and the rapid spread of Nightingale hospitals.

But doctors told Sky News that although the NHS has proven resilient, the impact of the pandemic on front-line services has been serious and lasting.

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“The NHS has survived but in a very shattering way, and the people who will suffer will be the people of the UK,” Dr Zudin Puthucheary, an ICU consultant and member of the Intensive Care Society, told Sky News.

A government spokesperson said: “Throughout the pandemic, we have been guided by scientific and medical experts and have never hesitated to take swift and decisive action.

“As the Prime Minister said, we are committed to learning the lessons of the pandemic and have committed to a full public inquiry in the spring.”

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