COVID-19 inquiry in UK asks whether ‘terrible consequences’ could have been avoided or reduced

By JILL LAWLESS
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — A mammoth three-year public inquiry into Britain’s handling of COVID-19 has opened. It is investigating whether suffering and death could have been reduced with better planning. Lawyer Hugo Keith, who is counsel to the inquiry, says the coronavirus pandemic brought “death and illness on an unprecedented scale” in modern Britain. COVID-19 has been recorded as a cause of death for 226,977 people in the U.K., he says – “the key issue is whether that impact was inevitable.” A group of people who lost relatives to COVID-19 held pictures of their loved one outside the inquiry venue as hearings opened Tuesday. The inquiry is due to last until 2026.