LONDON: About 23,000 deaths could have been prevented in England if the first Covid-19 lockdown had been introduced sooner at the start of the pandemic, a UK public inquiry found Thursday.
The second report from an inquiry into the UK response to the Covid-19 pandemic criticized the government in 2020 led by Boris Johnson for a “lack of urgency” in the early days of the pandemic, adding the lockdown was “too little, too late.”
Modelling shows that if the first lockdown had been imposed earlier, it could have prevented 23,000 deaths in England alone in the first wave, according to the 800-page report.
“Had the lockdown been imposed one week earlier than March 23, the evidence suggests that the number of deaths in England alone in the first wave up until July 1, 2020 would have been reduced by 48 percent,” inquiry chair Heather Hallett said.
“The tempo of the response should have been increased. It was not. February 2020 was a lost month,” added Hallett, a retired senior judge.
The inquiry chair also said that if restrictions had been introduced sooner, the mandatory lockdown could have been shorter, or “might not have been necessary at all.”
- ‘Unacceptable loss of life’ -
However, the report — the second in a series from the independent inquiry — rejected claims that the government was wrong to implement the March 2020 lockdown.
“Without it, the growth in transmission would have led to an unacceptable loss of life,” the report said.
The UK suffered one of the worst Covid-19 death tolls in Europe with more than 128,500 fatalities recorded by mid-July 2021.
More than 226,000 people have died from Covid in Britain since the start of the global pandemic in early 2020.
Johnson, who was prime minister from 2019 to 2022, has been criticized on various fronts for the pandemic response, including a lack of preparedness and failing to have enough protective equipment for frontline staff.
During inquiry hearings last month, Johnson said he regretted the impact of the decisions his government took on children, especially the “nightmare” school closures.
The report also criticized a “lack of trust” between Johnson and leaders of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, which have devolved public health care systems.
The first inquiry report published in July 2024 found that UK ministers and officials had been woefully underprepared for a global pandemic.
In a statement, a group representing families who lost loved ones during the pandemic slammed the government’s “catastrophic mishandling.”
“We now know that many of our family members would still be alive today if it weren’t for the leadership of Boris Johnson and his colleagues,” Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK said.
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UK Covid inquiry says thousands of lives could have been saved
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UK Covid inquiry says thousands of lives could have been saved
- Modelling shows that if the first lockdown had been imposed earlier, it could have prevented 23,000 deaths in England
- The inquiry chair also said that if restrictions had been introduced sooner, the mandatory lockdown could have been shorter
French court rejects bid to reopen probe into black man’s death in custody
PARIS: France’s top court on Wednesday ruled against reopening an investigation into the 2016 death of a young black man in police custody, confirming a previous decision to dismiss the case against three arresting officers.
The Court of Cassation’s decision definitively closes the case nearly a decade after the death of 24-year-old Adama Traore following his arrest in the Paris suburb of Beaumont-sur-Oise, a fatality that triggered national outcry over police brutality and racism.
Traore’s family was contesting a 2024 appeal court ruling confirming a prior decision to drop the case, after an investigation led to no charges against the military policemen — or gendarmes — involved and therefore no case in court.
A lawyer representing his family announced after Wednesday’s ruling they would take the case to the European Court of Human Rights to “have France convicted.”
Three gendarmes pursued the young man on July 19, 2016, when temperatures reached nearly 37C, pinning him down in an apartment, after which he told officers he was “having trouble breathing.”
He then fainted during the journey to a gendarmerie station, where he died.
’Probably’ not fatal
In 2023, French investigating magistrates dropped the case against the three gendarmes, in a ruling that was upheld on appeal in 2024.
They had been tasked with probing whether the three arresting officers used disproportionate force against Traore during a police operation targeting his brother, Bagui.
According to the magistrates, Traore’s death was caused by heatstroke that “probably” would not have been fatal without the officers’ intervention — though it concluded their actions were within legal bounds.
His family however has accused the gendarmes of failing to help the young man, who was found by rescue services unconscious and handcuffed behind his back.
In their appeal, Traore’s family criticized the justice system for not carrying out a reconstitution of events as part of the investigation.
But prosecutors requested that the appeal be dismissed.
Internal investigations
Activists have repeatedly accused French police of violence and racism, but few cases make it to criminal court in France as most are dealt with internally.
In January, several thousand people protested in Paris over the death in custody of a Mauritanian immigrant worker, El Hacen Diarra, 35, who died after passing out at a police station following his violent arrest.
Paris police launched an internal investigation after video filmed by neighbors, shared on social media, showed a policeman punching what appears to be a man on the ground as another officer stands by and watches.
In 2024, a judge gave suspended jail sentences to three officers who inflicted irreversible rectal injuries to a black man, Theo Luhaka, during a stop-and-search in 2017.
Prosecutors have also called for a police officer to be tried over the 2023 killing of a teenager at a traffic stop, in a case that sparked nationwide protests.
A court is to rule in March whether he will face a criminal trial over the killing of 17-year-old Nahel M.
Europe’s top rights court in June condemned France over its police discriminating against a young man during identity checks, in the first such ruling against the country over alleged racial profiling.
The Court of Cassation’s decision definitively closes the case nearly a decade after the death of 24-year-old Adama Traore following his arrest in the Paris suburb of Beaumont-sur-Oise, a fatality that triggered national outcry over police brutality and racism.
Traore’s family was contesting a 2024 appeal court ruling confirming a prior decision to drop the case, after an investigation led to no charges against the military policemen — or gendarmes — involved and therefore no case in court.
A lawyer representing his family announced after Wednesday’s ruling they would take the case to the European Court of Human Rights to “have France convicted.”
Three gendarmes pursued the young man on July 19, 2016, when temperatures reached nearly 37C, pinning him down in an apartment, after which he told officers he was “having trouble breathing.”
He then fainted during the journey to a gendarmerie station, where he died.
’Probably’ not fatal
In 2023, French investigating magistrates dropped the case against the three gendarmes, in a ruling that was upheld on appeal in 2024.
They had been tasked with probing whether the three arresting officers used disproportionate force against Traore during a police operation targeting his brother, Bagui.
According to the magistrates, Traore’s death was caused by heatstroke that “probably” would not have been fatal without the officers’ intervention — though it concluded their actions were within legal bounds.
His family however has accused the gendarmes of failing to help the young man, who was found by rescue services unconscious and handcuffed behind his back.
In their appeal, Traore’s family criticized the justice system for not carrying out a reconstitution of events as part of the investigation.
But prosecutors requested that the appeal be dismissed.
Internal investigations
Activists have repeatedly accused French police of violence and racism, but few cases make it to criminal court in France as most are dealt with internally.
In January, several thousand people protested in Paris over the death in custody of a Mauritanian immigrant worker, El Hacen Diarra, 35, who died after passing out at a police station following his violent arrest.
Paris police launched an internal investigation after video filmed by neighbors, shared on social media, showed a policeman punching what appears to be a man on the ground as another officer stands by and watches.
In 2024, a judge gave suspended jail sentences to three officers who inflicted irreversible rectal injuries to a black man, Theo Luhaka, during a stop-and-search in 2017.
Prosecutors have also called for a police officer to be tried over the 2023 killing of a teenager at a traffic stop, in a case that sparked nationwide protests.
A court is to rule in March whether he will face a criminal trial over the killing of 17-year-old Nahel M.
Europe’s top rights court in June condemned France over its police discriminating against a young man during identity checks, in the first such ruling against the country over alleged racial profiling.
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