Covid inquiry report live: UK failed to properly plan for pandemic, Baroness Hallett expected to conclude

The UK failed to plan effectively for a pandemic , the first report by the Covid-19 Inquiry is expected to conclude.

The inquiry , which publishes its report on Thursday, reviewed how prepared the country was to face a deadly outbreak before 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic swept around the world.

Former prime minister Lord Cameron admitted during the hearings that it was a “mistake” for his government to focus too heavily on preparations for combating an influenza wave rather than a coronavirus-like pandemic.

But he defended cuts to public services under his leadership, which doctors and unions have blamed for leaving the NHS in a “parlous state”.

Matt Hancock , who was health secretary under Boris Johnson during the pandemic, said it was a “colossal” failure to assume the spread of the virus could not be stopped.

His predecessor in the job, Jeremy Hunt , admitted to being part of “groupthink”, leading to a “narrowness of thinking”.

As well as highlighting blunders made in the run-up to the pandemic, inquiry chair Baroness Heather Hallett is expected to make recommendations about how the UK can better prepare itself for a future outbreak.