Health · 20 November 2025
COVID inquiry: UK lockdown delay led to deaths
Photo by Glen Carrie on Unsplash
The UK COVID-19 public inquiry has concluded that implementing lockdown measures one week earlier on March 16, 2020 instead of March 23 could have prevented approximately 23,000 deaths in England during the first wave. Lady Hallett's report found government response was characterized by chaos and failure to appreciate the scale of the threat. The inquiry's report highlighted that the government's overall response was "too little, too late," which encompassed the period when initial public health advice was being formulated.
Reported by Irish News · How we write briefs