Lockdown could have been avoided - key findings from Covid inquiry

The long-awaited independent report into how well or badly the government handled the Covid pandemic has been published.

Chairwoman of the inquiry, former judge Baroness Hallett, said the UK's response could be summarised as "too little, too late".

The report looks at whether lockdowns were timely and reasonable, and what impact rule-breaking at the heart of government had on public confidence.

Here are some of the main findings. We're still reading through the 800-page document and will keep updating this page.

Lockdown could have been avoided if steps such as social distancing and isolating those with symptoms along with members of their household had been introduced earlier than mid-March 2020, the report says.

But by the time ministers took action it was already too late and a lockdown was inevitable.

Voluntary measures were brought in on 16 March 2020, followed by the full stay-at home lockdown seven days later.

An immediate lockdown on 16 March would have meant 23,000 fewer deaths in England in the first wave, modelling suggests.

Children were not prioritised enough, with ministers failing to consider properly the consequences of school closures, the report says.

It says lockdowns left "lasting scars" on society, bringing ordinary childhood to a halt, delaying treatment of non-Covid health conditions and worsening inequalities.

None of the UK's four nations were adequately prepared for the sudden and enormous task of educating most children in their homes, the inquiry adds.

The report says that rule-breaking by politicians and their advisers undermined public confidence in decision-making and significantly increased the risk that people wouldn't stick to the measures being put in place.

It lists events such as Dominic Cummings' trip to Durham and Barnard Castle in March 2020; two visits to a second home during lockdown by the chief medical officer for Scotland, Dr Catherine Calderwood; and visits to the home of scientific adviser Prof Neil Ferguson by a woman with whom he was in relationship during lockdown.

By the time details of parties and social events in Downing Street emerged in November 2021, there was a "public outcry", the report says.

Johnson and Sunak subsequently received fixed penalty notices for their actions.

All four nations were criticised for their planning and decision-making, which the inquiry says was hampered by the lack of trust between Boris Johnson and the first ministers

The inquiry found that at the start of 2020, while all four nations lacked urgency in their response, the devolved administrations were overly reliant on the UK government to lead the response.

The four nations then differed in their strategy for exiting the first national lockdown, with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland adopting a more cautious approach – but this was undermined by no restrictions on travel from England, where many restrictions had been eased.

The report finds that in Autumn 2020, Holyrood was the only government to learn lessons from the first lockdown, and introduced tough, locally-targeted measures which helped avoid the need for a nationwide lockdown.

On the other hand, decision making in Northern Ireland was described as "chaotic", while the Welsh government's approach resulted in the highest age-standardised mortality rate of the four nations between August and December 2020.

The report gives a long list of recommendations, including:

• To establish structures to improve communication between the four nations during an emergency
• Improve consideration of the impact decisions might have on people - both by the illness and the steps taken to respond to it
• Create expert groups to advise on economic and social implications, not just the science
• Ensure decisions - and their implications - are clearly communicated to the public
• Enable greater parliamentary scrutiny of emergency powers

The government doesn't have to adopt the inquiry's recommendations, but it must respond to them, which could shape future policies.

The inquiry has already reported back on Britain's preparedness for the pandemic, concluding that the UK failed citizens with flawed plans.