UK was ‘at least a week late’ with first Covid lockdown, inquiry told

The UK was “at least a week late” in imposing a national lockdown, according to one of the UK’s top health officials.

Earlier this week, the UK’s Covid-19 inquiry heard the “oscillating” and indecisiveness of Boris Johnson was to blame for delayed measures to fight the virus. But Christopher Wormald, the chief civil servant at the Department of Health and Social Care now and throughout the pandemic, has offered an alternative view, insisting the timeline of measures was – at the time – “completely rational”. He said it was only in hindsight that he believed the government was slow to respond.

Pointing to Johnson’s 16 March statement urging families to voluntarily limit non-essential travel and socialising, Wormald said there was “not long enough between it [the statement] and the national lockdown” to be able to observe any impact of the guidance.

“From what I’ve seen, there’s some evidence the wave was already beginning to turn at 16 March, but we will never know because of what we introduced [the stay at home national lockdown order] at 23 March,” Wormald said in response to occasionally tense questioning from inquiry lead counsel Hugo Keith.

“It [the government] was seeing lockdowns being introduced all across Europe, us being out of step and there was a sense, driven by a lot of media reporting, that people weren’t complying with the 16 March [guidance].

Asked by Keith whether an earlier announcement of the 16 March guidance could have spared the UK a national lockdown, Wormald said it was a “possibility”.

He added: “With hindsight we were at least a week late at all points.”

Responding to Keith’s claim it was “obvious it took a number of weeks for the government to understand the predicament it was in”, Wormald insisted decisions taken were “rational at the time” in light of the scientific advice the government was receiving.

After multiple accusations this week and previously about his former boss Matt Hancock’s conduct, including claims of “bullshitting” from former Downing Street adviser Dominic Cummings, Wormald described the disgraced former Health Secretary as “overly optimistic”.

However, the inquiry also heard about Hancock’s prickly side.

Yvonne Doyle, former a medical director at Public Health England, claimed he “made his displeasure clear” following an interview she gave in January 2020, prompting colleagues to advise she avoid “direct contact” with him for a period – despite the looming threat of the pandemic.

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