Arguments over NHS funding and future pandemic preparations marked the end of the opening phase of public hearings

UK was not equipped to deal with Covid deaths, bereaved families tell inquiry as Module 1 concludes

Philip Banfield echoes National Audit Office warning about lack of gowns – and criticises standard of NHS-issue masks

“Major engineering and structural changes” were made to improve equipment when Covid hit, a health expert has said

Local government chief says sharing results of national exercises would have ‘changed what we were doing’ during Covid

Former health minister was ‘unaware’ of high influenza risk to Northern Ireland – or of departmental risk register

The UK’s only nation to border the EU was left to prepare for Brexit with no ministers, says Denis McMahon

The Cabinet Office has lost its judicial review of the inquiry’s decision to force disclosure of unredacted messages

Lack of ministers hampered Covid response, says Denis McMahon, and crucial policies barely mentioned risk of pandemic

Covid inquiry also hears how government spent months without contact details for public health chiefs across the UK

Vaughan Gething accuses UK ministers including Matt Hancock of hampering Welsh pandemic prep by refusing to engage

There were no specialist ‘high consequence infectious disease’ units in Wales, Frank Atherton told the Covid inquiry

The former first minister also said she “deeply regrets” the impact of Brexit on Scotland’s pandemic preparedness

Hospitals had not completed vital PPE preparations when Covid hit – despite concerns being raised in 2018

The former health secretary criticised local councils, civil servants and the World Health Organisation over UK failures

A November 2019 document shows the government chose not to prioritise adult social care in its flu pandemic plans

Pair say UK lacked capacity to ‘scale up’ testing and treatment, and not enough was done about health inequality

Former health secretary says government didn’t ask right questions before Covid and admits ‘groupthink’ on herd immunity

Others speaking in the inquiry have described Operation Yellowhammer as ‘a really major consumer of resources’

Lack of government planning and weakness in health and social care left UK vulnerable to Covid, says Sally Davies