UK lockdowns were a policy ‘failure’, health expert tells Covid inquiry

Stay-at-home measures should have been last resort due to harmful effects, says epidemiologist

Nationwide lockdowns in the UK during the pandemic were a “failure” of public health policy as they were not considered a last resort, an epidemiology expert has said.

Giving evidence at the Covid-19 public inquiry on Monday, Prof Mark Woolhouse of the University of Edinburgh – a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (SPI-M-O) – said the group failed to adequately assess the negative consequences of a nationwide lockdown.