Covid Inquiry says that the pandemic lockdowns could have been avoided – and I think they're right

The UK was one of the most locked down countries in the world during the Covid pandemic, but this was not inevitable - it was a failure of public health policy

- writes Mark Woolhouse, professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh.

Matt Hancock and chief medical officer Chris Whitty. Photo: PA

(PA)

That should be the lasting legacy of the UK Covid inquiry's latest report, not a critique of politicians no longer in office.

In a public health emergency, saving lives will always be the first priority, but even as Covid raged, it was never a binary choice between harsher restrictions or more deaths. The choice was between different ways to protect people from a dangerous virus.

In 2020, governments that had never previously contemplated lockdowns imposed them anyway. On March 23, the UK population was ordered to stay at home, without any assessment of how much harm this would do to the economy, education, access to healthcare and the wellbeing of everyone - especially children.

The vast scale of the resulting damage shows why avoiding lockdowns must be a priority for policymakers in future pandemics.