FAILED Half lives lost in first wave would have been saved if lockdown were one week earlier - FAILED Mistakes were made again and again....Test and Trace not up to it, decisións slow - FAILED Huge final total of 230,000 deaths.... was in part due to the 'decisions taken to respond

BEREAVED families hit out at Boris Johnson yesterday after the public inquiry into Covid found that his government's response was "inexcusable".

- MARTIN BAGOT, SIMON MURPHY

Baroness Heather Hallett's damning report said 48 per cent of deaths in the first wave down south -23,000 could have been avoided if lockdown had been brought in a week earlier.

Moments after its release yesterday, campaigner Deborah Doyle, who lost her mum, said: "The evidence is clear. Boris Johnson is blamed in black and white for the catastrophic mishandling of the pandemic which led to thousands of avoidable deaths.

"Many of our family members would still be alive today if it wasn't for the leadership of Boris Johnson and his colleagues." Baroness Hallett said 230,000 lives were lost to the virus and that such "devastating consequences" were in part due to the "decisions taken to respond to it.

The inquiry branded government inaction "inexcusable" and said it was repeatedly slow to bring in restrictions, making full lockdowns necessary.

The baroness said in February 2020 the UK Government failed to act, given the growing awareness of the threat of the new virus spreading from China.

She said: "Ministers and officials had been given clear advice that, in the reasonable worst-case scenario, up to 80 per cent of the population would be infected with a very significant loss of life - but did not appreciate the increasing likelihood of this scenario materialising.

"At the same time, it was clear that the Test and Trace system was inadequate for a pandemic.