The first Covid Inquiry report will today reveal how the government failed to prepare for a devastating pandemic

The Government has failed British citizens and sent thousands of people to die due to its poor pandemic planning, the Covid Inquiry said today in its first report.

Baroness Heather Hallett said the UK was “dangerously mistaken” in thinking it would be able to deal with a disease outbreak.

We spent years thinking about a flu epidemic, but the coronavirus has emerged as a different beast.

She said: “The UK prepared for the wrong pandemic.”

Almost a quarter of a million people in Britain have died with Covid since it emerged in early 2020.

Baroness Hallett said: “I have no hesitation in concluding that processes, planning and policy across the UK have failed the citizens of all four nations.

“There were serious errors on the part of the State and serious failures in our civil emergency systems.

“This cannot happen again.”

The survey’s first report, published more than four years since the start of the pandemic, is titled “Resilience and Preparedness”.

Today he gave a damning account of how poor public health and a lack of focus in government have left Britain dangerously exposed to coronavirus.

It is based on evidence from dozens of politicians, experts and government officials and is expected to be sharply critical.

The report sets out recommendations on how the UK can better prepare for the next epidemic.

It is widely accepted that the government before 2020 focused too much on a flu pandemic in its disaster planning – and the coronavirus turned out to be very different.

Worsening public health in the years leading up to the outbreak, with obesity and diseases such as type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure on the rise, also left Britons at greater risk.

The years leading up to today were exhausting

Brenda DohertyFamilies bereaved by Covid-19 for justice

Brenda Doherty, from campaign group Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK, said: “The publication of the module one report marks a huge milestone for bereaved families like mine.

“We know that for lives to be saved in the future, it is necessary to learn lessons from the mistakes of the past.

“Unfortunately, no one knows the true cost of the government’s failure to prepare like we did.

“From campaigning to launch an inquiry, to hearing revelation after revelation about the ways in which our loved ones failed, the years leading up to today have been draining.”

Experts believe that another pandemic is almost certain to happen and planning should start now because it is a question of when, not if, it will be necessary.

Professor Liam Smeeth, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: “The key lesson is that if the UK waits for the next pandemic to emerge, it will be too late.

“Fighting pandemics is like fighting terrorism, we must use similar approaches, such as collecting and sharing the best information about global disease threats and joining forces to tackle outbreaks before they become pandemics.

“Lethal viruses do not recognize national borders and can attack anywhere and at any time.”