on June 15th started it The operation was led by Baroness Heather Hallett, invited to investigate the coronavirus epidemic, which follows whether the British government did the right thing in 2020, when the coronavirus epidemic that began in China reached the island nation.
The purpose of the public hearing is to examine whether the British government has really taken the best decisions during the pandemic, in addition to that the organization headed by the retired judge will also collect useful results for the future.
But what is all this?
In the United Kingdom, a law passed in 2005 allows the Minister to open a public inquiry if certain events have caused or are likely to cause public concern, or if the public expresses concern that certain events have occurred.
Boris Johnson announced the launch of the investigation in May 2021, after more and more doctors and politicians I stopped Families grieving due to COVID-19 are behind the investigation demanded by the civil society organization Demanding Justice, and the public supports the investigation. was standing instead of. Thus, the Prime Minister announced at the time that the investigative body, independent of the government, would start its work in the spring of 2022, but it ended up being postponed until this summer for various reasons.
In accordance with its mandate, the inquiry led by Hallett – who also led the inquiry into the London bombings of 7 July 2005 – examines the government’s response and preparedness, and aims to formulate forward-looking advice.
In this regard, you can hold public hearings, where the interviewees testify under oath, and they can request documents from the government, various organizations and individuals, so that they can work from as much information as possible.
Meanwhile, his jurisdiction is limited, and he cannot recommend the initiation of criminal or civil proceedings, no matter what is found during the investigation.
Moreover, before it began, the British government had already taken the case to court: Rishi Sunakék azt they wanted to achievewere unable to access former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages with ministers and members of his administration after they were told to do so during an investigation.
There are currently four units in total The investigation is underway In the course of their activities, which may be supplemented by new activities in the future:
- UK healthcare resilience and preparedness;
- basic decision-making and governance in the UK;
- The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on health care
- and the effectiveness of various vaccines and treatments.
All four of these have already been initiated, preliminary investigations have been carried out, and further sub-topics are being investigated in each module. A separate report will be prepared for each unit and hearings for each unit are expected to last 6 weeks. According to preliminary plans, the procedure could end in 2025 or 2026.
The inquiry mainly wants to reveal whether Boris Johnson made a mistake when he introduced the lockdowns late, as well as whether subsequent policy decisions were justified or flawed, but they also take stock of the readiness left by his predecessors.
Thus, among other things, they are investigating why mass testing was abandoned in March 2020, but they are looking at discrepancies regarding the treatment of the epidemic in nursing homes – in the first three months after the appearance of the coronavirus, 40 percent of the deceased were released from nursing homes. , which may be related to the lack of appropriate protective equipment in addition to screening. And with the fact that residents were allowed to return to the nursing home from hospitals without testing – the investigation wants to decide this with the facts.
But in addition to that, they are also investigating whether the restrictions are too strict afterwards,
For example, in connection with the closure of schools, or that a nationwide lockdown of temporary restrictions has been imposed. In addition, in terms of restrictions, the various government parties that the Johnson family held during curfew are likely to appear.
In the UK, a total of 226,278 people lost their lives during the pandemic, which is 3,303 deaths per million people. with this worldmeter According to his numbers, they are ranked 20th in the world and are doing worse than, for example, Italy, which suffered greatly from the first wave (3,165) or Sweden, which kept their country open all the time (2,399). The former ranks 23rd and the latter 43rd on this list. In comparison, Hungary ranks third in this indicator, after Peru and Bulgaria, with 5,088 coronavirus deaths per million inhabitants.
What has been said so far?
At the moment only the official hearings for the first unit are taking place, which can be followed live on the YouTube channel created for this purpose.
On preparedness, for example, David Cameron, who led the country as prime minister from 2010 to 2016, was interviewed to find out what decisions led to budget cuts for the NHS during his administration, and whether this affected how prepared he was. later for the government and health care when the epidemic hit the country.
In this regard, Cameron so He seesHis government made no mistakes, and during his reign, healthcare budgets were slashed the most in other countries. According to him, his government left in such a way that the governments that followed him would be able to deal with the epidemic,
At the same time, he admitted that it was a mistake not to examine the different types of epidemics.
According to Chris Wormald, Secretary of State at the Department of Health, governments believed that preparing for pandemic influenza would be sufficient in relation to other pandemics, which is why, for example, contact tracing and closing had not been touched upon before – the current chief medical officer has stated that the latter was a drastic step .
The fact that governments overinitiated influenza epidemics has been repeated by others. So did Cameron’s former chancellor, George Osborne, who also argued there was no link between spending cuts and the government’s coronavirus response, while Cameron’s former pandemic preparedness official,
Oliver Letwin stated that it was a mistake that the purchase of personal protective equipment (masks, gloves, etc.) was not a priority earlier, as they thought they could easily replace it at any time.
The hearings will resume on June 26 with the questioning of former Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who resigned in February.
The British are not the first to scrutinize the response to the coronavirus
In recent years, there have been several debates regarding the coronavirus pandemic, whether the responses given in connection with the epidemic are proportionate and justified, while others believe that due to the many deaths, governments may have made a mistake because they did so. Not enough drastic measures are being taken to combat the epidemic.
SkyNews report according to This was first investigated in Sweden, which has always been a separate country in managing epidemics, where the Covid Commission stated in February 2022 in the 1,700-page report that the central reaction was “fundamentally correct”, but that more measures could have been taken. Strict at the beginning of the epidemic.
In France, a lawsuit was initiated to determine whether then-Minister of Health, Agnès Buzyn, was negligent during the pandemic, but it was eventually terminated.
While in Italy former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, former Health Minister Roberto Speranza and 17 others are under investigation over the government’s response to the pandemic, while in the United States there was only a plan to create a bipartisan committee in the Senate, but fierce opposition and the Biden administration This was not achieved due to lack of support.
(Cover photo: Boris Johnson on July 5, 2021. Photo: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)
