GIVE US THE TRUTH

COVID INQUIRY OPENS AT LAST TO HEAR HARROWING VIDEO FROM RELATIVES

- Nicholas Cecil, Tristan Kirk and Rachael Burford

ANGUISH, fear, love and pride. So many emotions and such vivid memories of the pandemic came flooding back as the Covid inquiry started its public hearings today.

After a solemn opening statement by inquiry chair Baroness Hallett, a harrowing video was played of families, including from London, who so tragically lost loved ones during those bleak years. "It happened all very quickly, within seven days my mum was gone, just like that," recalled Lucy, from the capital. Hazel, also from London, explained how her daughter alerted her that her father was becoming unwell, struggling to breathe, before being told he had to go to hospital. Fighting back tears, she added: "They tested him and they said it's definitely Covid." Inquiry officials had warned that the film of "some of those who suffered most during the pandemic" may be "difficult to watch". But even this could not prepare people, tuning into the inquiry, for the raw pain still being felt by so many across the country.

Baroness Hallett stressed that grieving families of victims of Covid-19 “will always be at the heart” of Britain’s public inquiry into the pandemic.

Opening the first six weeks of evidence sessions, she said: “I’ve promised many times those who suffered hardship and loss are, and will always be, at the heart of the inquiry. I’ve done my very best within the constraints upon me of time, resources and terms of reference to fulfil that promise.