🔗 Share this article Confinement One Week Earlier Could Have Saved Over 20,000 Lives, Coronavirus Report Finds An critical independent inquiry into the UK's handling to the coronavirus emergency has found that the actions were "inadequate and belated," declaring that enacting a lockdown only a single week earlier could have spared over twenty thousand fatalities. Primary Results from the Report Documented across more than seven hundred fifty sections spanning two volumes, the conclusions portray a consistent narrative of hesitation, inaction as well as an apparent inability to absorb lessons. The description about the start of the pandemic in early 2020 has been described as notably harsh, labeling February as being "a month of inaction." Government Shortcomings Emphasized It raises questions about why the then prime minister did not to lead a single gathering of the Cobra response team in that period. Measures to the virus essentially halted throughout the half-term holiday week. By the second week of March, the state of affairs was described as "little short of calamitous," with a lack of preparation, no testing and therefore no understanding regarding the extent to which the coronavirus had spread. Possible Outcome Even though acknowledging that the choice to enforce restrictions was without precedent as well as hugely difficult, implementing other action to reduce the transmission of the virus more quickly might have resulted in such measures may not have been necessary, or proved shorter. Once restrictions was inevitable, the report went on, if it had been imposed on 16 March, modelling showed that could have reduced the number of deaths within England in the first wave of the pandemic by almost half, which equals twenty-three thousand lives saved. The failure to appreciate the magnitude of the threat, and the urgency for action it demanded, meant the fact that by the time the option of a mandatory lockdown was first discussed it proved too late so that such measures had become necessary. Ongoing Failures The investigation further pointed out that a number of of these mistakes – reacting too slowly and minimizing the rate together with impact of the pandemic's progression – were then repeated later in 2020, as controls were eased and subsequently delayed reimposed because of spreading mutations. It labels this "unjustifiable," noting that the government were unable to absorb experience through repeated phases. Total Impact The United Kingdom suffered one of the most severe Covid epidemics within Europe, amounting to about 240 thousand pandemic fatalities. This investigation represents another from the ongoing review regarding each part of the response as well as handling of the pandemic, which began in previous years and is due to proceed until 2027.