Lockdowns could have been “avoided entirely” during the pandemic if ministers had responded more quickly to the virus, the Covid-19 Inquiry has concluded.
Baroness Heather Hallett said measures came “too little, too late” and contributed to how Britain was affected by the pandemic.
“I can summarise my findings of the response as ‘too little, too late,’” Lady Hallett said in a statement.
She also acknowledged that lawmakers were forced to make “unenviable choices” and that thre were “few, if any, easy decisions to make”.
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"Had the UK been better prepared, fewer lives would have been lost, the socio-economic costs would have been substantially reduced and some of the decisions politicians had to take would have been far more straightforward,” Lady Hallett said.
“There was a serious failure by all four governments to appreciate the level of risk and the calamity that the UK faced and the need to inject urgency into the response," she added.
'Restricting people’s liberty in such a draconian fashion with all the devastating consequences should be avoided,' the report said
|THE COVID-19 INQUIRY
Regarding her criticism of government strategy, Lady Hallet said: “The inquiry does not advocate for national lockdowns, far from it.
“Restricting people’s liberty in such a draconian fashion with all the devastating consequences should be avoided, if at all possible.
“But to avoid them, governments must take timely and decisive action to control a spreading virus. The four governments of the UK did not,” she said.
Lady Hallet blamed the implementation of lockdowns on the sluggish response of lawmakers.
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“Had the more stringent restrictions, short of a stay at home lockdown announced on March 16 2020, been introduced earlier when the number of Covid-19 cases was lower, the mandatory lockdown that was subsequently imposed might have been shorter.
“Conceivably, it might not have been necessary at all.
“At the very least, there would have been time to establish the effect of the restrictions on levels of incidence and whether there was a sustained reduction in social contact.
“As it was, the likelihood of a mandatory lockdown significantly increased as a result of the failure to act more speedily and effectively before March 16,” she said.
Lady Hallet said that lockdowns 'might not have been necessary at all'
|GETTY
Lady Hallett also said there was a “failure” to appreciate the risk facing the UK with the Covid-19 pandemic.
She said: “There was a serious failure by all four governments to appreciate the level of risk and the calamity that the UK faced and the need to inject urgency into the response.
“The obviously escalating crisis required leadership from the very top.
“All four governments knew that in the reasonable worst-case scenario, up to 80 per cent of the population would be infected with a very significant loss of life.
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